1.3.27
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.3.27
शब्द इति चेन् नातः प्रभवात् प्रत्यक्षानुमानाभ्याम्
śabda iti cen nātaḥ prabhavāt pratyakṣānumānābhyām
The line
If you say the deity is only a word, no, because the forms arise from the word, as perception and inference also show.
नेपालीमा
यदि देवता केवल शब्द हो भन्छौ भने, होइन, किनकि रूप शब्दबाट निस्कन्छन्, जसरी प्रत्यक्ष र अनुमानले पनि देखाउँछन्।
Where it sits
The gods whose eligibility was stated in 1.3.25 are still the subject. śabdaḥ (शब्दः) is the objector's reduction of them. The next line draws the consequence for the word's eternality.
Split: śabdaḥ (शब्दः) + iti (इति) + cet (चेत्) + na (न) + ataḥ (अतः) + prabhavāt (प्रभवात्) + pratyakṣa-anumānābhyām (प्रत्यक्ष-अनुमानाभ्याम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| śabdaḥ (शब्दः) | nominative singular, masculine | a word |
| iti (इति) | indeclinable | thus |
| cet (चेत्) | indeclinable | if |
| na (न) | indeclinable | no |
| ataḥ (अतः) | indeclinable | from this, from the word |
| prabhavāt (प्रभवात्) | ablative singular, masculine | because of arising |
| pratyakṣa-anumānābhyām (प्रत्यक्ष-अनुमानाभ्याम्) | instrumental dual, neuter | by perception and by inference |
The phrases
The objection: Indra is born and dies. If the god is a passing individual, the Vedic word 'Indra' has no steady thing to name, and a Vedic word cannot depend on a transient bearer. So, it is said, the god is only a śabda (शब्द), a word.
The reply is na. The bodies arise, prabhava, from this, ataḥ (अतः), from the word. The word is first. A particular Indra is an appearance from the eternal word, not the ground of the word. Perception and inference are brought in as also showing that a word, or a kind, is not broken by the coming and going of instances.
Sanskrit in this line
śabdaḥ (शब्दः) before iti is recited śabda (शब्द). ataḥ (अतः) plus prabhava is recited ataḥ (अतः) prabhava, the visarga of ataḥ (अतः) remaining before p, or in the smooth reading nātaḥ (नातः). The dual -ābhyām (-आभ्याम्) is instrumental, recited -ābhyām (-आभ्याम्) at the end.
Say it back
Say the objection as 'Indra dies, so the word fails', and the reply as 'the body comes from the word'.