1.1.17
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.1.17
एकद्रव्यमगुणं संयोगविभागेष्वनपेक्षकारणमिति कर्मलक्षणम्
ekadravyam aguṇaṃ saṃyogavibhāgeṣv anapekṣakāraṇam iti karmalakṣaṇam
The line
The mark of an action is that it is in one substance, has no quality, and is an independent cause of conjunction and disjunction.
नेपालीमा
कर्मको चिह्न यो हो कि त्यो एउटै द्रव्यमा हुन्छ, गुण हुँदैन, र संयोग र विभागको स्वतन्त्र कारण हुन्छ।
Where it sits
The three definitions are complete: 1.1.15 substance, 1.1.16 quality, 1.1.17 action. From 1.1.18 the book asks what causes what.
Split: eka-dravyam (एक-द्रव्यम्) + a-guṇam (अ-गुणम्) + saṃyoga-vibhāgeṣu (संयोग-विभागेषु) + anapekṣa-kāraṇam (अनपेक्ष-कारणम्) + iti (इति) + karma-lakṣaṇam (कर्म-लक्षणम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| eka-dravyam (एक-द्रव्यम्) | nominative singular, neuter | resident in one substance. Not in two at once. |
| a-guṇam (अ-गुणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | without a quality. |
| saṃyoga-vibhāgeṣu (संयोग-विभागेषु) | locative plural, masculine | in conjunctions and disjunctions. Still in force as the field. |
| anapekṣa-kāraṇam (अनपेक्ष-कारणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | an independent cause. It does not wait on another factor of the same kind. |
| iti (इति) | indeclinable | thus. |
| karma-lakṣaṇam (कर्म-लक्षणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the defining mark of action. |
The phrases
Put it beside 1.1.16. A quality is not an independent cause of joining and parting. An action is. A quality can reside where the system allows a quality to reside. An action resides in exactly one substance.
One throw belongs to one hand. It does not inhere in the hand and the thing thrown at once. The conjunction it produces is a quality, and that quality can be of two things. The action itself is of one.
Sanskrit in this line
The pāṭha (पाठ) writes anapekṣa (अनपेक्ष) kāraṇam (कारणम्) as anapekṣakāraṇam (अनपेक्षकारणम्), one compound, and splits karma (कर्म) lakṣaṇam (लक्षणम्). Keep karma (कर्म)-lakṣaṇam (-लक्षणम्) as the name of the definition, matching guṇalakṣaṇam (गुणलक्षणम्) in the line before.
Say it back
Where does an action reside, and what is it a cause of?
Next
1.1.18. Substance is the common cause of substance, quality, and action.