1.1.4
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.1.4
धर्मविशेषप्रसूताद् द्रव्यगुणकर्मसामान्यविशेषसमवायानां पदार्थानां साधर्म्यवैधर्म्याभ्यां तत्त्वज्ञानान् निःश्रेयसम्
dharmaviśeṣaprasūtād dravyaguṇakarmasāmānyaviśeṣasamavāyānāṃ padārthānāṃ sādharmyavaidharmyābhyāṃ tattvajñānān niḥśreyasam
The line
From knowing the categories as they are, by their likeness and their difference, comes the highest good. The categories are substance, quality, action, the common, the particular, and inherence.
नेपालीमा
पदार्थलाई जस्ताका तस्ता, सादृश्य र भेदसहित चिनेपछि निःश्रेयस आउँछ। पदार्थ हुन् द्रव्य, गुण, कर्म, सामान्य, विशेष र समवाय।
Where it sits
This is the table of contents of Vaiśeṣika (वैशेषिक). 1.1.5 names the nine substances. 1.1.6 will list qualities. Do not add absence as a seventh category on this line. Later manuals do. Kaṇāda (कणाद)'s list here is six.
Split: dharma-viśeṣa-prasūtāt (धर्म-विशेष-प्रसूतात्) + dravya-guṇa-karma-sāmānya-viśeṣa-samavāyānām (द्रव्य-गुण-कर्म-सामान्य-विशेष-समवायानाम्) + padārthānām (पदार्थानाम्) + sādharmya-vaidharmyābhyām (साधर्म्य-वैधर्म्याभ्याम्) + tattva-jñānāt (तत्त्व-ज्ञानात्) + niḥśreyasam (निःश्रेयसम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| dharma-viśeṣa-prasūtāt (धर्म-विशेष-प्रसूतात्) | ablative singular | born of a particular dharma (धर्म). The knowledge arises because of dharma (धर्म). The line is dense here, and the traditional reading takes the knowledge as sprung from dharma (धर्म). |
| dravya-guṇa-karma-sāmānya-viśeṣa-samavāyānām (द्रव्य-गुण-कर्म-सामान्य-विशेष-समवायानाम्) | genitive plural, masculine | of substance, quality, action, the common, the particular, and inherence. Six categories. Absence is not in this list. |
| padārthānām (पदार्थानाम्) | genitive plural, masculine | of the categories. padārtha (पदार्थ) is 'the meaning of a word,' what a word is about. The six are what words are finally about. |
| sādharmya-vaidharmyābhyām (साधर्म्य-वैधर्म्याभ्याम्) | instrumental dual | by likeness and by difference. The dual ending -ābhyām (-आभ्याम्) is 'by the two.' |
| tattva-jñānāt (तत्त्व-ज्ञानात्) | ablative singular, neuter | from knowledge of them as they are. tattva is that-ness, the fact of a thing. |
| niḥśreyasam (निःश्रेयसम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the highest good. The thing that results. |
The phrases
Read the long genitive as one dvandva of six, inside padārthānām (पदार्थानाम्): the categories which are substance, quality, action, commonness, particularity, and inherence.
The instrument of the knowledge is the pair sādharmya (साधर्म्य) and vaidharmya. You know a category by what it shares and by what it does not share. The next sūtras (सूत्र) start that work.
niḥśreyasam (निःश्रेयसम्) is what comes from that knowledge. The ablative tattvajñānāt (तत्त्वज्ञानात्) is the cause. This is the sentence Nyāya (न्याय)'s first line also makes, in Nyāya (न्याय)'s own list of sixteen.
Sanskrit in this line
Instrumental dual -ābhyām (-आभ्याम्) means 'by the two,' the same ending as Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 1.12, abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyām (अभ्यास-वैराग्याभ्याम्). A dvandva of six takes one ending, on the last member. The last member here is samavāya (समवाय), inherence, and the genitive plural is worn by padārthānām (पदार्थानाम्), which contains the list.
Say it back
Six categories, from memory, in order.
Next
1.1.5. The substances are earth, water, fire, air, ether, time, space, self, and mind.