19
Sāṅkhya Kārikā / Verses 1–21, the two realities / 19
तस्माच् च विपर्यासात् सिद्धं साक्षित्वमस्य पुरुषस्य कैवल्यं माध्यस्थ्यं द्रष्टृत्वमकर्तृभावश् च
tasmāc ca viparyāsāt siddhaṃ sākṣitvam asya puruṣasya kaivalyaṃ mādhyasthyaṃ draṣṭṛtvam akartṛbhāvaś ca
The line
From that opposition it is established that this person is a witness, alone, indifferent, a seer, and not a doer.
नेपालीमा
त्यो विरोधबाट यो पुरुष साक्षी, एक्लो, उदासीन, द्रष्टा र अकर्ता हो भनी सिद्ध हुन्छ।
Where it sits
Yoga 1.3, the seer abiding in its own form, is this draṣṭṛ (द्रष्टृ). Yoga 2.20 will say the seer is sight alone. You can hear the pair without mixing the books.
Split: tasmāt (तस्मात्) + ca (च) + viparyāsāt (विपर्यासात्) + siddham (सिद्धम्) + sākṣitvam (साक्षित्वम्) + asya (अस्य) + puruṣasya (पुरुषस्य) + kaivalyam (कैवल्यम्) + mādhyasthyam (माध्यस्थ्यम्) + draṣṭṛtvam (द्रष्टृत्वम्) + akartṛ-bhāvaḥ (अकर्तृ-भावः) + ca (च)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| tasmāt (तस्मात्) | ablative singular | from that. From the contrast drawn in verses 11 and 17. |
| viparyāsāt (विपर्यासात्) | ablative singular | from the inversion, the being-opposite. Some readings have viparyayāt (विपर्ययात्). Same sense. |
| siddham (सिद्धम्) | nominative singular, neuter | established. Agrees with the abstracts that follow. |
| sākṣitvam (साक्षित्वम्) | nominative singular, neuter | being a witness. sākṣin (साक्षिन्) is the one who sees with his own eye, present and not intervening. |
| asya puruṣasya (अस्य पुरुषस्य) | genitive singular | of this person. |
| kaivalyam (कैवल्यम्) | nominative singular, neuter | aloneness. Not loneliness. The state of being only oneself, apart from the strands. |
| mādhyasthyam (माध्यस्थ्यम्) | nominative singular, neuter | standing in the middle, indifference. He is not a party to the strands' fight. |
| draṣṭṛtvam (द्रष्टृत्वम्) | nominative singular, neuter | being the seer. draṣṭṛ (द्रष्टृ) is the same agent noun as Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 1.3, draṣṭṛ (द्रष्टृ). |
| akartṛ-bhāvaḥ (अकर्तृ-भावः) | nominative singular, masculine | the state of not being the agent. kartṛ (कर्तृ) is the doer. a- (अ-) negates it. |
The phrases
Five abstracts, one owner in the genitive. They are not five new entities. They are five ways of saying the contrast: if the strands act and do not see, the person sees and does not act.
akartṛbhāvaḥ (अकर्तृभावः) is masculine and the others are neuter. The verse does not force them into one gender. Recite it as it is.
Sanskrit in this line
-tva (-त्व) and -ya (-य) build abstract nouns: sākṣin (साक्षिन्) becomes sākṣitva (साक्षित्व), 'witness-ness.' The genitive puruṣasya (पुरुषस्य) says whose abstract it is. English says 'the person is a witness.' Sanskrit often says 'witness-ness of the person is established.'
Say it back
Five words, from memory: sākṣitva (साक्षित्व), kaivalya (कैवल्य), mādhyasthya (माध्यस्थ्य), draṣṭṛtva (द्रष्टृत्व), akartṛbhāva (अकर्तृभाव).