1.10
अभावप्रत्ययालम्बना वृत्तिर्निद्रा
abhāva-pratyayālambanā vṛttir nidrā
The line
Sleep is the mental activity whose support is the cognition of absence.
नेपालीमा
निद्रा त्यो मानसिक वृत्ति हो जसको आश्रय अभावको ज्ञान हो।
Where it sits
If sleep were a blank, it would not be one of the five. Calling it a vṛtti (वृत्ति) is the point. The mind has a kind of activity even when the contents are gone. Stillness of the sort 1.2 means is not this. 1.10 exists so the two are not confused.
Split: abhāva-pratyaya-ālambanā (अभावप्रत्ययआलम्बना) + vṛttiḥ (वृत्तिः) + nidrā (निद्रा)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| abhāva (अभाव) | stem | absence. a- (अ) plus bhāva (भाव) "being." |
| pratyaya (प्रत्यय) | stem | a cognition, an idea presenting itself. |
| ālambanā (आलम्बना) | nominative singular, feminine | having as its support. Agrees with vṛtti (वृत्ति). |
| vṛttiḥ (वृत्तिः) | nominative singular of vṛtti (वृत्ति) | the activity. |
| nidrā (निद्रा) | nominative singular, feminine | sleep. The fourth of the five. |
The phrases
nidrā (निद्रा) and vṛttiḥ (वृत्तिः) name the same thing from two sides: sleep is a mental activity. Both are feminine, and ālambanā (आलम्बना) agrees with them.
abhāvapratyayālambanā (अभावप्रत्ययालम्बना) is read from the end: whose support (ālambana (आलम्बन)) is the cognition (pratyaya (प्रत्यय)) of absence (abhāva (अभाव)). The seam pratyaya (प्रत्यय) + ālambanā (आलम्बना) is a (अ) + ā (आ) = ā (आ).
Sleep, in this line, is not "the senses shut, so nothing mental is happening." It is a cognition whose object is absence. That is why it counts as a vṛtti (वृत्ति), and why 1.2 includes it in what is stilled. Dreamless sleep is still an experience, which is also why it can be remembered, and memory is the next line.
The recited vṛttir (वृत्तिर्) is vṛttiḥ (वृत्तिः) with its visarga changed before n (न्).
Sanskrit in this line
Third visarga pattern. A word ending in iḥ (इः), before a voiced consonant, turns ḥ (ः) into r (र्). vṛttiḥ nidrā (वृत्तिः निद्रा) is recited vṛttir nidrā (वृत्तिर् निद्रा). You can hear the r (र्) as a bridge.
ālambanā (आलम्बना) is feminine because it describes vṛtti (वृत्ति), which is feminine. The compound is doing the work of a relative clause: "which has absence-cognition as its support."
Say it back
Why is sleep on the list of activities at all? Answer from abhāva-pratyaya (अभावप्रत्यय), not from a theory of rest.
Next
1.11. Memory is the not-losing of an object that was experienced.