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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.7
6 pratyakṣānumānāgamāḥ pramāṇāni
Translation. Perception (pratyakṣa), inference (anumāna), and authoritative testimony (āgama) are the valid-cognition modes (pramāṇas).
Grammar check: 2 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 |
|---|
| pratyakṣānumānāgamāḥ | pratyakṣānumānāgama | pass |
| pramāṇāni | pramāṇa | 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.
Parse pratyakṣānumānāgamāḥ as one three-member itaretara-dvandva rather than as three merely juxtaposed independent words.→ Three coordinate epistemic processes form a dvandva with the whole stem pratyakṣānumānāgama-. The commentary treats each member separately as a vṛtti belonging to the same epistemic classification.
ys [1]vṛttiḥ pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇam
the mental operation is the perceptual pramāṇa
ys [4]vṛttir anumānam
the mental operation is inference
ys [6]vṛttiḥ śrotur āgamaḥ
the hearer’s mental operation is testimony
Understand pratyakṣa technically as perceptual cognition, not merely as the adjective “visible” or as an external perceptible object.→ Perception: a mental operation arising when the mind is affected by an external object through the channel of the senses, principally determining that object’s particular character.
ys [1]indriyapraṇālikayā cittasya bāhyavastūparāgāt tadviṣayā sāmānyaviśeṣātmano 'rthasya viśeṣāvadhāraṇapradhānā vṛttiḥ pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇam.
Because the mind is affected by an external object through the channel of the senses, the operation concerning that object and principally determining the particular character of an object consisting of universal and particular is the perceptual pramāṇa.
Understand anumāna as an inferential mental operation based on an invariant relation and principally determining a universal feature.→ Inference in the technical epistemic sense defined by the commentary.
ys [4]anumeyasya tulyajātīyeṣv anuvṛtto bhinnajātīyebhyo vyāvṛttaḥ saṃbandho yas tadviṣayā sāmānyāvadhāraṇapradhānā vṛttir anumānam.
Inference is the mental operation concerning a relation of the inferable that recurs among things of the same kind and is excluded from things of a different kind, and that principally determines a universal feature.
Render āgama as authoritative verbal testimony rather than as arrival, tradition in general, or scripture alone.→ Authoritative testimony, understood as the hearer’s cognition arising from words that communicate what a trustworthy speaker has perceived or inferred. The subsequent qualification shows that an ungrounded speaker’s testimony is unstable.
ys [6]āptena dṛṣṭo 'numito vārthaḥ paratra svabodhasaṃkrāntaye śabdenopadiśyate, śabdāt tadarthaviṣayā vṛttiḥ śrotur āgamaḥ.
An object perceived or inferred by a trustworthy person is taught in words so that his cognition may be transferred to another; the hearer’s mental operation arising from the word and concerning its meaning is testimony.
ys [7]yasyāśraddheyārtho vaktā na dṛṣṭānumitārthaḥ sa āgamaḥ plavate.
Testimony from a speaker whose subject matter is not credible and who has not perceived or inferred it is unstable.
ys [8]mūlavaktari tu dṛṣṭānumitārthe nirviplavaḥ syāt.
But when the original speaker has perceived or inferred the object, it is free from instability.
Take pramāṇāni as epistemically valid cognition-processes instantiated as mental operations (vṛtti), not as physical measures or merely external standards.→ Valid-cognition modes. The commentary identifies each member with a vṛtti and distinguishes that operation from its result, the puruṣa-related awareness of the mental operation.
ys [1]vṛttiḥ pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇam.
the mental operation is the perceptual pramāṇa
ys [2]phalam aviśiṣṭaḥ pauruṣeyaś cittavṛttibodhaḥ.
Their common result is the puruṣa-related awareness of the mind’s operation.
ys [4]vṛttir anumānam.
the mental operation is inference
ys [6]śabdāt tadarthaviṣayā vṛttiḥ śrotur āgamaḥ.
the hearer’s mental operation arising from the word and concerning its meaning is testimony
Construe pramāṇāni as a predicate nominative agreeing in number, though not gender, with the masculine plural dvandva subject; supply the copula “are” in English.→ The sentence equates the three coordinated processes with pramāṇas. The commentary’s singular equation pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇam confirms the predicative construal.
ys [1]vṛttiḥ pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇam.
the mental operation is the perceptual pramāṇa
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1indriyapraṇālikayā cittasya bāhyavastūparāgāt tadviṣayā sāmānyaviśeṣātmano 'rthasya viśeṣāvadhāraṇapradhānā vṛttiḥ pratyakṣaṃ pramāṇam.
2phalam aviśiṣṭaḥ pauruṣeyaś cittavṛttibodhaḥ.
3pratisaṃvedī puruṣa ity upariṣṭād upapādayiṣyāmaḥ.
4anumeyasya tulyajātīyeṣv anuvṛtto bhinnajātīyebhyo vyāvṛttaḥ saṃbandho yas tadviṣayā sāmānyāvadhāraṇapradhānā vṛttir anumānam.
5yathā deśāntaraprāpter gatimac candratārakaṃ caitravat, vindhyaś cāprāptir agatiḥ.
6āptena dṛṣṭo 'numito vārthaḥ paratra svabodhasaṃkrāntaye śabdenopadiśyate, śabdāt tadarthaviṣayā vṛttiḥ śrotur āgamaḥ.
7yasyāśraddheyārtho vaktā na dṛṣṭānumitārthaḥ sa āgamaḥ plavate.
8mūlavaktari tu dṛṣṭānumitārthe nirviplavaḥ syāt.
91.7
10viparyayo mithyājñānam atadrūpapratiṣṭham