शब्दज्ञानानुपाती वस्तुुशून्यो विकल्प: ॥९॥
पदविभाग: (separating individual words): शब्दज्ञानानुपाती, वस्तुशून्यः, विकल्पः
अन्वय: (Rearranging in logical prose sequence): शब्दज्ञानानुपाती वस्तुशून्यः (च) विकल्पः (भवति)
प्रतिपदार्थ: (word-by-word meaning): शब्दज्ञानानुपाती = following or resting upon verbal knowledge (words/language), वस्तुशून्यः = devoid of objective reality (or empty of actual substance), (च) = (and), विकल्पः = Imagination (or verbal delusion), (भवति) = (is).
तात्पर्यम्: (final translation): Imagination (verbal delusion) is a mental fluctuation that arises from those words or language that have no corresponding reality.
Further context on the 9th Sutra from Patanjali’s Yogasutras
Like J. Krishnamurthi used to say the word is not it. Words are a medium for us to identify and understand the world. Words originate from sounds in nature. Words help us point at reality. But words can never be what they point at. Yet, words under the influence of emotions have the power to make or break relationships.
In marathi we have a song that goes like – शब्दावाचुन कळले सारे, शब्दांच्या पलिकडले. It means, learning through words, I have understood what was beyond words. So the शब्द is not to be vilified here. It’s all we have to make sense of an eternally changing world. This शब्दज्ञान (verbal knowledge) without substance in what they point at, leads to the third class of Vrittis i.e., विकल्पः (delusions).
In Vikalpa, there is no object at all (vastu-shunyah). The thought is generated 100% by language (shabda-jnana-anupati).
Classical commentators use specific philosophical examples for this:
- “The horns of a rabbit” (शशशृङ्ग)
- “A flower in the sky” (खपुष्प)
If someone says “rabbit’s horn,” the mind instantly creates a vritti (a mental wave/image). You understand the words, and the image appears in your consciousness. But if you search the entire physical universe, that object does not exist. The mind has been agitated by something that does not exist and it’s not a bad thing. The entire genre of fantasy or fiction in literature is this and it’s a tool for us to see what it reflects within ourselves. This to me is the power of language and the world inside worlds that it can create.
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