अवयवावयविताशब्दार्थौ शशशृङ्गवत् । अनुभूत्यपलापाय कल्पितौ यैर्धिगस्तु तान् ॥ ७७ ॥
avayavāvayavitāśabdārthau śaśaśṛṅgavat | anubhūtyapalāpāya kalpitau yairdhigastu tān || 77 ||
- Another reading: ताम् (tām) for तान्
Translation
The meanings of the words "part" and "whole" are like a hare's horn; shame on those by whom they were imagined to deny experience.
Word by word
- avayava
- part
- avayavitā
- and whole
- śabda
- of the words
- arthau
- the meanings
- śaśa
- a hare’s
- śṛṅga
- horn
- vat
- like
- anubhūti
- experience
- apalāpāya
- to deny
- kalpitau
- were imagined
- yair
- (yaiḥ) by whom
- dhig
- (dhik) shame
- astu
- be
- tān
- on those
Meaning
The commentary: how can things with parts and without parts have one being? So the logicians say, denying the experience of the wise, and Vasiṣṭha rebukes them. In what is made of awareness, the meanings of the words part and whole are unreal like a hare's horn. The Naiyāyikas built their world from wholes made of parts; Vasiṣṭha's point is that such categories are being used against what everyone experiences, the one awareness in which parts and wholes appear.