आदावेव हि यन्नाऽस्ति कारणासंभवात्स्वयम् । वर्तमानेऽपि तन्नाऽस्ति नाशः स्यात्तत्र कीदृशः ॥ १३ ॥
ādāvēva hi yannā’sti kāraṇāsaṁbhavātsvayam | vartamānē’pi tannā’sti nāśaḥ syāttatra kīdṛśaḥ || 13 ||
Translation
What indeed is not there in the very beginning, by itself, because a cause is impossible, is not there in the present either: what kind of destruction could there be of it?
Word by word
- ādau
- in the beginning
- ēva
- very
- hi
- indeed
- yan
- (yat) what
- na
- not
- asti
- is there
- kāraṇa
- a cause
- asaṁbhavāt
- because (it) is impossible
- svayam
- by itself
- vartamānē
- in the present
- api
- either
- tan
- (tat) it
- nāśaḥ
- destruction
- syāt
- could there be
- tatra
- there, of it
- kīdṛśaḥ
- what kind of
Meaning
The commentary: what was not there before, because there is no cause, is not there now either; so how could it be destroyed? Another commentary adds: it is not there now in just the same way as it was not there at the beginning. The verse closes the loop of verse 5. A thing that has a cause can come into being and pass away; a thing for which no cause is possible never came into being, and what never came into being has nothing to lose. The next verse says why no cause is possible.