Bhartrihari Quotes on Truth
Bhartrihari, the Indian grammarian and philosopher of language, made the Word itself the key to truth and reality, and the quotes gathered here present that vision. Building on the grammatical tradition, Bhartrihari held that all cognition is permeated by language, that there is no thought wholly free of words, so that the search for truth cannot be separated from the study of speech. His monistic metaphysics went further, identifying the ultimate reality, Brahman, with the eternal Word, without beginning, from which the manifold of the world unfolds. Speech, on this account, is the meeting place of thought and being. These formulations, drawn from his Vakyapadiya, are marked as attributed rather than directly sourced. They present truth, for Bhartrihari, as inseparable from language and ultimately grounded in the divine Word.
Quotes
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Attributed to Bhartrihari:
“All cognition is permeated by language.”
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Attributed to Bhartrihari:
“The ultimate Brahman is the Word, eternal and without beginning.”
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Attributed to Bhartrihari:
“The word is the seed from which all reality unfolds.”
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Attributed to Bhartrihari:
“Speech is the meeting place of thought and being.”
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“The maid my true heart loves would not my true love be; She seeks another man; another maid loves he; And me another maid her own true love would see: Oh, fie on her and him and Love and HER and me! Nītiśataka 2 Variant translation from K.M. Joglekar: That woman about whom I constantly meditate has no affection for me; she, however, yearns after another who is attached to someone else; while a certain woman pines away for me. Fie on her, on him, on the God of Love, on that woman, and on myself.”
यां चिन्तयामि सततं मयि सा विरक्ता साप्यन्यमिच्छति जनं स जनोऽन्यसक्त:। अस्मत्कृते च परिशुष्यति काचिदन्या धिक्ताञ्च तं च मदनं च इमां च मां च ॥ -
“The maid my true heart loves would not my true love be; She seeks another man; another maid loves he; And me another maid her own true love would see: Oh, fie on her and him and Love and HER and me!”
Śatakatraya | Nītiśataka 2 Variant translation from K.M. Joglekar: That woman about whom I constantly meditate has no affection for me; she, however, yearns after another who is attached to someone else; while a ce