36
Sāṅkhya Kārikā / Verses 22–55, the world / 36
एते प्रदीपकल्पाः परस्परविलक्षणा गुणविशेषाः कृत्स्नं पुरुषस्यार्थं प्रकाश्य बुद्धौ प्रयच्छन्ति
ete pradīpakalpāḥ parasparavilakṣaṇā guṇaviśeṣāḥ kṛtsnaṃ puruṣasyārthaṃ prakāśya buddhau prayacchanti
The line
These, like lamps, different from each other, particulars of the strands, illuminate the whole purpose of the person and present it to the intellect.
नेपालीमा
यी दियोझैँ, एकअर्काभन्दा फरक, गुणका विशेष भएर, पुरुषको सारा प्रयोजन उज्यालो पार्छन् र बुद्धिसामु राख्छन्।
Where it sits
The next verse is the turn. Intellect not only receives the world. It can discriminate the receiver from the world. That discrimination is viveka (विवेक), the opposite of the aviveka (अविवेक) the book has been circling since verse 11.
Split: ete (एते) + pradīpa-kalpāḥ (प्रदीप-कल्पाः) + paraspara-vilakṣaṇāḥ (परस्पर-विलक्षणाः) + guṇa-viśeṣāḥ (गुण-विशेषाः) + kṛtsnam (कृत्स्नम्) + puruṣasya (पुरुषस्य) + artham (अर्थम्) + prakāśya (प्रकाश्य) + buddhau (बुद्धौ) + prayacchanti (प्रयच्छन्ति)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| ete (एते) | nominative plural, masculine | these. The senses and the inner companions. |
| pradīpa-kalpāḥ (प्रदीप-कल्पाः) | nominative plural, masculine | like lamps. kalpa (कल्प) at the end of a compound means 'resembling.' |
| paraspara-vilakṣaṇāḥ (परस्पर-विलक्षणाः) | nominative plural, masculine | each marked off from the others. Eye is not ear. |
| guṇa-viśeṣāḥ (गुण-विशेषाः) | nominative plural, masculine | particulars of the strands. They are not a new stuff. They are guṇa (गुण) arranged thus. |
| kṛtsnam (कृत्स्नम्) | accusative singular | the whole. |
| puruṣasya artham (पुरुषस्य अर्थम्) | accusative | the purpose of the person. |
| prakāśya (प्रकाश्य) | gerund | having illuminated. |
| buddhau (बुद्धौ) | locative singular, feminine | in the intellect, to the intellect. |
| prayacchanti (प्रयच्छन्ति) | present, third person plural | they present, they hand over. |
The phrases
The senses do not present the world to the person directly. They illuminate it and hand it to buddhi (बुद्धि). The person sees what intellect has determined. That is why a mistake in intellect is lived as a mistake about oneself. Verse 20 already said the evolute seems conscious.
pradīpakalpāḥ (प्रदीपकल्पाः) picks up the lamp of verse 13. There the three strands worked like one lamp. Here each organ is a lamp of its own, aimed at one delivery.
Sanskrit in this line
A gerund prakāśya (प्रकाश्य) is 'having lit,' an action done before the main verb prayacchanti (प्रयच्छन्ति). English often says 'they light and then they hand over.' Sanskrit puts the earlier act in the gerund.
Say it back
Where does the object arrive? Say buddhau (बुद्धौ).