अकारणैः कारणिभिर्बोधार्थमुपमीयते । उपमानैस्तूपमेयैः सदृशैरेकदेशतः ॥ ५ ॥
akāraṇaiḥ kāraṇibhirbōdhārthamupamīyatē | upamānaistūpamēyaiḥ sadṛśairēkadēśataḥ || 5 ||
Translation
To teach something, it is compared with things alike in one part only, illustrations that are causes in one respect and not causes in another.
Word by word
- akāraṇaiḥ
- by things that are not causes
- kāraṇibhir
- (kāraṇibhiḥ) by things that are causes
- bōdha
- to teach
- artham
- for the sake of
- upamīyatē
- it is compared
- upamānais
- (upamānaiḥ) by illustrations
- tu
- indeed
- upamēyaiḥ
- with the things compared
- sadṛśair
- (sadṛśaiḥ) alike
- ēkadēśataḥ
- in one part
Meaning
The commentary's example is homely. A child will not take its medicine, so it is told: "Drink it, and your topknot will grow like your brother's." The medicine has nothing to do with the hair; it is no cause of that. Yet the comparison is a cause in another way: it gets the child to drink, and the medicine does its good. In the same way, the illustrations of the Self are taken from changing things, while the Self does not change; they are alike in one part only, and that part is enough to make the real known.