Devanagari
धातवोऽवयवित्वाच्च तन्मात्रावयवैर्विना ।
न स्युर्ह्यसत्यवयविन्यसन्नवयवोऽन्तत: ॥ ६० ॥
Verse text
dhātavo ’vayavitvāc ca
tan-mātrāvayavair vinā
na syur hy asaty avayaviny
asann avayavo ’ntataḥ
Synonyms
dhātavaḥ
—
the five elements
;
avayavitvāt
—
being the cause of the bodily conception
;
ca
—
and
;
tat
—
mātra — the sense objects (sound, taste, touch, etc.)
;
avayavaiḥ
—
the subtle parts
;
vinā
—
without
;
na
—
not
;
syuḥ
—
can exist
;
hi
—
indeed
;
asati
—
unreal
;
avayavini
—
in the formation of the body
;
asan
—
not existing
;
avayavaḥ
—
the part of the body
;
antataḥ
—
at the end .
Translation
Because the body is formed of the five elements, it cannot exist without the subtle sense objects. Therefore, since the body is false, the sense objects are also naturally false or temporary.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Because the elements are only parts, they cannot exist without their sense objects, which are also parts. Since the whole universe and body is unreal, the elements and sense objects are also unreal.
It has just been explained that the body is false. Now the causes of the body such as earth element are explained to be false. The word dhātu means “that which supports.” The five gross elements (dhatavaḥ) cannot exist without their tan-mātras, the sense objects, their subtle portions. “But the parts should be real since the whole is real.” But the whole is unreal (proven in the last verse), and thus the parts are also unreal. One cannot prove the reality of the parts unless the whole is real. It has been said:
evaṁ niruktaṁ kṣiti-śabda-vṛttam
asan nidhānāt paramāṇavo ye
avidyayā manasā kalpitās te
yeṣāṁ samūhena kṛto viśeṣaḥ
What is known by the word “earth” exists in name only because earth is resolved into atomic particles, which are imagined by the mind out of ignorance. Out of their totality, a particular object is made. SB 5.12.9