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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.27
26 tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ
Translation. His signifier (vācaka) is the praṇava (Oṃ).
Grammar check: 3 words pass / 0 flagged / 0 beyond the checkerPāṇini-verified
Every word's claimed grammar is re-derived with vidyut-prakriya, software implementing Pāṇini's rules. Flags are shown, never hidden; some are the text taking epic or Vedic liberties the classical rules do not generate.
Word by word
| surface | lemma | grammar |
|---|
| tasya | tad | pass |
| vācakaḥ | vācaka | pass |
| praṇavaḥ | praṇava | pass |
How the commentary settled it
Where the verse alone is ambiguous, the reading follows Vyāsa's commentary; the deciding lines are quoted below each decision.
tasya is masculine genitive singular and refers to Īśvara, not to an unspecified neuter ‘that.’→ Masculine genitive singular, ‘of him/his,’ with Īśvara as antecedent.
ys [1]vācya īśvaraḥ praṇavasya.
Īśvara is what is signified by the praṇava.
The syntax is an equational clause with praṇavaḥ as subject, vācakaḥ as predicate nominative, and tasya as the relational genitive dependent on vācakaḥ.→ ‘His signifier is the praṇava,’ with an understood asti.
ys [1, 3]vācya īśvaraḥ praṇavasya.
sthito 'sya vācyasya vācakena saha saṃbandhaḥ.
Īśvara is what is signified by the praṇava. The relation of this signified entity with its signifier is established.
vācaka is the technical ‘signifier’ or signifying expression, not an agentive ‘speaker.’→ Signifier (vācaka), correlated with the signified (vācya).
ys [2, 3]kim asya saṃketakṛtaṃ vācyavācakatvam atha pradīpaprakāśavad avasthitam iti.
sthito 'sya vācyasya vācakena saha saṃbandhaḥ.
Is its status as signified and signifier produced by convention, or is it established like the relation between a lamp and its light? The relation of this signified entity with its signifier is established.
The genitive relation should not be understood as ordinary possession or as a merely arbitrary naming. The commentary answers that the signified–signifier relation is already established; convention discloses it. It separately reports the Āgamin position that the word–meaning relation is eternal because conventional understanding remains continuous.→ An established signified–signifier relation manifested, rather than created, by convention.
ys [2, 3, 5, 6, 7]kim asya saṃketakṛtaṃ vācyavācakatvam atha pradīpaprakāśavad avasthitam iti.
sthito 'sya vācyasya vācakena saha saṃbandhaḥ.
yathāvasthitaḥ pitṛputrayoḥ saṃbandhaḥ saṃketenāvadyotyate, ayam asya pitā, ayam asya putra iti.
sargāntareṣv api vācyavācakaśaktyapekṣas tathaiva saṃketaḥ kriyate.
saṃpratipattinityatayā nityaḥ śabdārthasaṃbandha ity āgaminaḥ pratijānate.
Is its status as signified and signifier produced by convention, or is it established like the relation between a lamp and its light? The relation of this signified entity with its signifier is established. Just as the existing relation between father and son is illuminated by convention—‘this is his father; this is his son’—so too in other creations a convention is made in dependence upon the capacities of signified and signifier. The followers of tradition declare that the word–meaning relation is eternal because conventional understanding is continuous.
praṇava is retained as a technical term and glossed as the sacred syllable Oṃ, following [MW s.v. praṇava, 660,3].→ The sacred syllable Oṃ, since that is the relevant yogic sense.
ys []
The commentary presupposes rather than explicitly glosses praṇava; the identification with Oṃ is supplied by the cited dictionary entry.
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1vācya īśvaraḥ praṇavasya.
2kim asya saṃketakṛtaṃ vācyavācakatvam atha pradīpaprakāśavad avasthitam iti.
3sthito 'sya vācyasya vācakena saha saṃbandhaḥ.
4saṃketas tv īśravasya sthitam evārtham abhinayati.
5yathāvasthitaḥ pitṛputrayoḥ saṃbandhaḥ saṃketenāvadyotyate, ayam asya pitā, ayam asya putra iti.
6sargāntareṣv api vācyavācakaśaktyapekṣas tathaiva saṃketaḥ kriyate.
7saṃpratipattinityatayā nityaḥ śabdārthasaṃbandha ity āgaminaḥ pratijānate.
81.27
9vijñātavācyavācakatvasya yoginaḥ