shabdapramANa in VP-- 3

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shabdapramANa in VP- 3

 

The primary meaning of a word is its literal meaning. The word 'cow'

means the animal known by that name. According to advaita vedAnta, the word

'cow' means the species cow and not any particular cow. Some of the other

schools such as nyAya, however hold that a word means only a particular

entity and not the species. This is not accepted by advaita. When the word

'cow' is mentioned, we think of the cow in general and not of any particular

cow. The species is known as 'jAti' and an individual of the species is

known as 'vyakti'. When a person hears the word 'cow' it is the common

characteristics of all cows that come to mind. When a cow is pointed out to

a child and he is told that it is a cow it is the particular characteristics

of a cow that he remembers and that is why he is able to recognize another

cow which he sees elsewhere, even if it is of a different colour or size.

Thus each word directly denotes the 'jAti' and only indirectly the

particular 'vyakti' which is referred to.

 

The uninitiated may think that all this discussion about whether a word

denotes the species or an individual is mere hair-splitting without any

practical utility. To them it must be pointed out that Shri Shankara has

found this theory useful for refuting the contention of an opponent in his

bhAshya on brahmasUtra 1.3.28. He says there, " Words are connected with the

general characteristics and not with the individuals, for the individuals

are infinite, and it is impossible to comprehend the relation of a word

(with all of them) " .

 

The primary meaning of a word is known as 'vAcyArtha'.

 

It may happen that in a particular sentence the literal meaning of a

word does not give rise to the intended sense of the sentence as a whole. In

such cases the literal meaning of the word is discarded and an implied

meaning is adopted. Such an implied meaning is known as 'lakshyArtha' and

the implication is known as 'lakshaNa'. There are three kinds of

implication. These are:--

 

1. jahal-lakshaNa—exclusive implication.

2. ajahal-lakshaNa—inclusive implication.

3. jahad-ajahal-lakshaNa- quasi-implication or exclusive-inclusive

implication.

 

The third type of implication is used for explaining the meaning of the

mahAvAkya " Tat tvam asi " . This will be explained later on.

 

These three kinds of implication will now be explained.

 

1. Exclusive implication—In this the literal meaning of the word is

discarded, but a connected meaning, which makes the sentence meaningful, is

adopted. The classic example is the sentence: " There is a cowherds' colony

on the (river) Ganga " . Obviously the colony cannot be in the water of the

river. So the word 'Ganga' has to be understood as meaning 'bank of Ganga'.

The use of this kind of implication is common in practice. For example, the

city of Frankfurt in Germany is always referred to as 'Frankfurt am

Main' which

means 'Frankfurt on the (river) Main'. We have to understand this as 'the

banks of the river'. When we say " India won the match " it does not mean the

country as a whole, but the Indian team.

 

S.N.Sastri