Vakyapadiya 1.11-14

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Having acknowledged that one common goal of impartial truth may be

approached in many ways, the Vakyapadiya goes on to its specifically

chosen approach, which is the analysis of speech.

 

 

1.11

----

 

AsannaM brahmaNas tasya tapasAm uttamaM tapaH .

prathamaM chandasAm a~Ngam Ahur vyAkaraNaM budhAH ..

 

AsannaM(seated back, established) brahmaNaH(of reality)

tasya(of that) tapasAm(of strivings, of disciplines)

uttamaM(the best) tapaH(striving, discipline) .

prathamaM(the foremost) chandasAm(of the vedic sciences)

a~Ngam(branch) AhuH(they say) vyAkaraNaM(analysis of speech)

budhAH(those who are intelligent) ..

 

For those who are intelligent,

the foremost of the sciences

and also the best discipline --

established in reality --

is the analysis of speech.

 

This stanza says that 'vyakarana' or 'linguistics' is the foremost of

all sciences. Again, this may be confusing to a modern reader, whose

notion of science is centred on the calculating technology of modern

physics. So a little explanation is needed about the traditional

notion of 'science', as described by the words 'shastra' and 'vidya'.

As these words imply, the traditional notion was not centred upon

mechanical calculation, but instead on the education of living

faculties.

 

Where modern physics is applied predominantly through calculations

and machines, the traditional sciences work more through the

cultivated discipline of 'shastra' and the clarifying enquiry

of 'vidya'. This requires a broader and a deeper notion of science

than the currently restricted one that has come to be modelled on the

calculations and machines of modern physics.

 

The broadening has to progress beyond objective calculation, so as to

allow a central place for subjective education in the working and the

application of scientific reasoning. In the end, science is far more

essentially applied by living beings than by technical constructions

and machines. So education has to play a central role that has long

be acknowledged in the old sciences.

 

In traditional times, before the recent rise of modern physics,

classical systems of education were centred on the learning of a

classic language -- like Arabic or Latin or Greek or Hebrew or

Mandarin Chinese or Persian or Sanskrit. Accordingly, a student was

initiated into higher learning by the formal systems of a classical

language -- in particular the systems of pronunciation, semantics,

inflexion and syntax, which were analysed and cultivated through the

science of linguistics.

 

In this practical way, linguistics was the initiating science of a

classical education. It was the first science that was used to train

a student's mind; and other sciences were subsequently learned,

through that initial training.

 

It was only natural then that linguistics should serve as a model for

the other sciences. The Vakyapadiya thus describes it as a foremost

model of scientific discipline, which serves to educate and clarify.

It provides a direct way of approaching clarity, as the next stanza

goes on to say.

 

 

1.12

----

 

prApta-rUpa-vibhAgAyA yo vAcaH paramo rasaH .

yat tat puNyatamaM jyotis tasya mArgo 'yam A~njasaH ..

 

prApta(attained)-rUpa(forms)-vibhAgAyA(of distinctions)

yaH(which) vAcaH(of speech) paramaH(final) rasaH(essence) .

yat(which) tat(that) puNyatamaM(purest virtue) jyotiH(light)

tasya(of it) mArgaH(path) ayam(this) A~njasaH(direct) ..

 

This is a direct path to that

same light which is at once the

purest virtue and the final essence

of all speech. This path proceeds

by trying to achieve correct

distinctions in the forms of speech.

 

The light that's here described is of course the subjective

illumination of consciousness. It is approached directly when

linguistic analysis stops going out to objects, but instead turns

inward to correct the distinctions that are used in speech. The next

stanza explains why the correction is needed.

 

 

1.13

----

 

artha-pravRtti-tattvAnAM shabdA eva nibandhanam .

 

artha(objects)-pravRtti(functioning)-tattvAnAM(of truths)

shabdAH(words) eva(alone) nibandhanam(tying down) .

 

All tying down of truths perceived,

in objects and their functioning,

consists of words expressed in speech.

 

tattvA-'vabodhaH shabdAnAM nA 'sti vyAkaraNAd Rte ..

 

tattva(truth)-avabodhaH(clear recognition)

shabdAnAM(of words) na(not) asti(there is)

vyAkaraNAt(from analysis of speech)

Rte(apart [from], without [recourse to]) ..

 

But we don't clearly recognize

the truth of words, without recourse

to the analysis of speech.

 

Here, there occurs an interesting concept, called 'nibandhana'.

Literally, it means 'tying down' or 'tying back'; and hence it

generally refers to the grounding of words in their underlying

source, from which they are expressed. But it is also used more

specifically, to describe the recording of knowledge in verbal or

written expression.

 

When the concept of 'nibandhana' is used in this specific way, to

mean 'recording', it may seem to describe a tying down of knowledge

to objective and material expressions, like spoken words or written

documents. But in a more essential sense, what's described is just

the opposite. The word 'nibandhana' describes a tying down of all

objective expressions to a subjective source of pure consciousness,

which each individual may find directly at the underlying background

of experience.

 

A similar reversal may be seen in the English word 'record'. In a

superficial sense, it is often taken to describe an objective

expression, like a spoken or a written message, which supports some

knowledge that has been attached to it. However, the word itself

shows a deeper meaning that is quite the reverse. The prefix 're-'

means 'back'; and 'cord' comes from the Latin 'cor', which

means 'heart'. Thus, the word 'record' implies a return to heart, and

hence a recalling or a fresh visiting of knowledge that continues in

the heart.

 

In this deeper sense, it is knowledge that continues underneath, as

the supporting background of our changing and differing experiences.

Objective expressions are what change and differ, while knowledge

carries on in the background, as their continuing support.

 

As knowledge is recorded through objective expressions, they are no

more than passing means of refreshing it. Their meaning is inherently

tied back to the living presence of knowledge, which continues

independently of them. All expressions are tied back to knowledge,

but it is never tied to them.

 

What then is the function of linguistic analysis? It is a means to

the essential freedom of knowledge, as the next stanza says.

 

 

1.14

----

 

tad dvAram apavargasya vA~N-malAnAM cikitsitam .

pavitraM sarva-vidyAnAm adhividyaM prakAshate ..

 

tat(it [linguistics]) dvAram(door, passageway)

apavargasya(of freedom) vAk(speech)-malAnAM(taints)

cikitsitam(investigative therapy [derived from 'cit']) .

pavitraM(means of purifying) sarva(all)-vidyAnAm(of disciplines)

adhividyaM(concerning science, learning)

prakAshate(shines forth, appears) ..

 

Linguistics is a passageway

to freedom in all disciplines.

Wherever learning is concerned,

linguistics there appears: as that

investigative therapy

which may be used to clear away

the taints of speech in what is said.

 

Here, we have a summary of how linguistics works. It is called

a 'cikitsa' or an 'investigative therapy'. It is a therapy that works

by asking what is meant in the expressions that we use. The asking

reasons in reverse, through meaning that has been expressed. When

reason turns back like this, it is inherently therapeutic. It

uncovers mistakes and confusions in what we mean to say; and then the

uncovering leads naturally towards correcting the mistakes and

clearing the confusions away.

 

This corrective enquiry is central to all sciences and disciplines.

In every branch of learning, it leads back to a central core of

educating discipline, where meaning is clarified. From there, a

practitioner develops capability. Returning there, through a

corrective questioning, the aim of linguistics is to educate. It's

meant to clarify our knowledge and thereby to liberate our use of

living capabilities.

 

 

Ananda