31
Sāṅkhya Kārikā / Verses 22–55, the world / 31
स्वां स्वां प्रतिपद्यन्ते परस्पराकूतहेतुकां वृत्तिम् पुरुषार्थ एव हेतुर् न केनचित् कार्यते करणम्
svāṃ svāṃ pratipadyante parasparākūtahetukāṃ vṛttim puruṣārtha eva hetur na kenacit kāryate karaṇam
The line
They each take up their own activity, driving one another. The person's purpose is the only cause. An instrument is not set working by anyone.
नेपालीमा
तिनीहरू एकअर्कालाई हाँक्दै आआफ्नो काम लिन्छन्, र पुरुषको प्रयोजन मात्र कारण हो। करणलाई कसैले चलाउँदैन।
Where it sits
This is the verse to remember when the system starts to sound like a machine with a ghost in it. There is no ghost operating it. There is a seer for whom it runs, and he does not run it.
Split: svām (स्वाम्) + svām (स्वाम्) + pratipadyante (प्रतिपद्यन्ते) + paraspara-ākūta-hetukām (परस्पर-आकूत-हेतुकाम्) + vṛttim (वृत्तिम्) + puruṣa-arthaḥ (पुरुष-अर्थः) + eva (एव) + hetuḥ (हेतुः) + na (न) + kenacit (केनचित्) + kāryate (कार्यते) + karaṇam (करणम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| svām svām (स्वाम् स्वाम्) | accusative singular, feminine, repeated | each its own. The repetition distributes: each instrument, its own activity. |
| pratipadyante (प्रतिपद्यन्ते) | present, third person plural | they enter upon, they take up. |
| paraspara-ākūta-hetukām (परस्पर-आकूत-हेतुकाम्) | accusative singular, feminine | caused by mutual impelling. ākūta (आकूत) is an intention, a driving. |
| vṛttim (वृत्तिम्) | accusative singular, feminine | the activity. Object of pratipadyante (प्रतिपद्यन्ते). |
| puruṣa-arthaḥ (पुरुष-अर्थः) | nominative singular, masculine | the person's purpose. |
| eva (एव) | indeclinable | alone, precisely. |
| hetuḥ (हेतुः) | nominative singular, masculine | the cause. |
| na kenacit (न केनचित्) | instrumental singular | not by anything. kenacit (केनचित्) is 'by someone or other.' |
| kāryate (कार्यते) | present passive | is made to act. |
| karaṇam (करणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the instrument. |
The phrases
The senses do not wait for a commander inside. They incite one another, and the only reason the whole arrangement exists is puruṣārtha (पुरुषार्थ), the purpose of the person. That purpose was verse 21: seeing, and aloneness.
na kenacit kāryate (न केनचित् कार्यते) refuses a hidden agent who pulls levers. The person is not that agent. Verse 19 already said he is akartṛ (अकर्तृ). Nature's instruments run because of what they are.
Sanskrit in this line
svāṃ svām (स्वां स्वाम्) is feminine because vṛtti (वृत्ति) is feminine. The adjective is repeated for the distributive sense, a normal Sanskrit idiom. kāryate (कार्यते) is the passive causative: 'is caused to act.'
Say it back
Say who does not push the instrument, and what the cause is instead.