11
Sāṅkhya Kārikā / Verses 1–21, the two realities / 11
त्रिगुणमविवेकि विषयः सामान्यमचेतनं प्रसवधर्मि व्यक्तं तथा प्रधानं तद्विपरीतस् तथा च पुमान्
triguṇam aviveki viṣayaḥ sāmānyam acetanaṃ prasavadharmi vyaktaṃ tathā pradhānaṃ tadviparītas tathā ca pumān
The line
Both the manifest and nature are of three strands, undiscriminating, objective, common, unseeing, and productive. The person is the opposite of that.
नेपालीमा
व्यक्त र प्रकृति दुवै तीन गुणका, अविवेकी, विषय हुने, साझा, नदेख्ने र उत्पादनशील हुन्। पुरुष त्यसको उल्टो हो।
Where it sits
You now have the three columns. guṇa (गुण) is the next word that has to become yours, because 'of three strands' is doing all the work on the side of nature. Verse 12 and 13 are those strands.
Split: tri-guṇam (त्रि-गुणम्) + aviveki (अविवेकि) + viṣayaḥ (विषयः) + sāmānyam (सामान्यम्) + acetanam (अचेतनम्) + prasava-dharmi (प्रसव-धर्मि) + vyaktam (व्यक्तम्) + tathā (तथा) + pradhānam (प्रधानम्) + tad-viparītaḥ (तद्-विपरीतः) + tathā (तथा) + ca (च) + pumān (पुमान्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| tri-guṇam (त्रि-गुणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | having the three guṇas (गुण). Verse 12 says what they are. |
| aviveki (अविवेकि) | nominative singular, neuter | without discrimination. It does not sort itself from the seer. The form is neuter of a stem in -in (-इन्). |
| viṣayaḥ (विषयः) | nominative singular, masculine | an object. Something for someone. The masculine is the noun's own gender, set down in a list of neuters. The verse is not tidy about gender, and the commentaries notice. |
| sāmānyam (सामान्यम्) | nominative singular, neuter | common, general. It is shared, not a pure particular. |
| acetanam (अचेतनम्) | nominative singular, neuter | without consciousness. It does not see. It is seen. |
| prasava-dharmi (प्रसव-धर्मि) | nominative singular, neuter | having the property of bringing forth. It produces. |
| vyaktam (व्यक्तम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the manifest. |
| tathā (तथा) | indeclinable | so also. |
| pradhānam (प्रधानम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the chief, another name of root prakṛti (प्रकृति). What is set before everything else. |
| tad-viparītaḥ (तद्-विपरीतः) | nominative singular, masculine | the opposite of that. |
| tathā ca (तथा च) | indeclinables | and also thus. The person is the opposite, and yet the 'also' keeps one likeness: he is not productive, which was already in the opposite, and the commentaries take tathā ca (तथा च) as 'he too is without the three guṇas (गुण)' being the opposite, while a further likeness is denied. Read it as: the person is the opposite of those shared traits, and that opposite is the whole of him. |
| pumān (पुमान्) | nominative singular, masculine | the person. puṃs (पुंस्), man, person, here puruṣa (पुरुष). |
The phrases
Six traits belong to vyakta (व्यक्त). tathā pradhānam (तथा प्रधानम्) gives the same six to root nature. This is the sarūpa (सरूप) of verse 8, the way the effect is like the cause.
The person is tadviparītaḥ (तद्विपरीतः). He is not made of the three guṇas (गुण), he discriminates (or rather, discrimination reveals him), he is not an object, he is particular, he is conscious, he does not produce.
The awkward genders in the list are in the verse. Do not smooth them into one gender when you recite. viṣayaḥ (विषयः) and pumān (पुमान्) are masculine. The rest of the traits are given as neuter to agree with vyaktam (व्यक्तम्).
Sanskrit in this line
pumān (पुमान्) is nominative of puṃs (पुंस्). The ending -ān (-आन्) on a stem in -aṃs (-अंस्) is the same family as śreyān (श्रेयान्) in verse 2. pradhāna (प्रधान) is the name to keep beside prakṛti (प्रकृति) and avyakta (अव्यक्त). Three names, one thing.
Say it back
Say what puruṣa (पुरुष) is not: not three strands, not an object, not unseeing.