Shloka 9
Bhṛgu–Bharadvāja-saṃvāda: Vānaprastha-parivrājaka-ācāra, Abhaya-dharma, and Lokānāṃ Vibhāga (Śānti-parva 185)
अद्रवत्वादनग्नित्वादभूमित्वादवायुत: । आकाश स्याप्रमेयत्वाद् वृक्षाणां नास्ति भौतिकम्,उनमें न तो द्रवत्व देखा जाता है, न अग्निका अंश, न पृथ्वी और वायुका ही भाग उपलब्ध होता है। आकाश तो अप्रमेय है; अतः वह भी वृक्षोंमें नहीं है, इसलिये वृक्षोंकी पाज्वभौतिकता नहीं सिद्ध होती है
adravatvād anagnitvād abhūmitvād avāyutaḥ | ākāśasyāprameyatvād vṛkṣāṇāṃ nāsti bhautikam ||
Bharadvāja thưa: “Ở cây cối không thấy tính lỏng, không thấy phần lửa, cũng không nhận ra phần đất và gió. Còn hư không thì vô lượng, khó thể đo lường; vì vậy cũng không thể xác lập nó ở trong cây. Do đó, không thể chứng minh rằng cây cối được cấu thành bởi các đại chủng thô.”
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse argues from observable properties and knowability: if the usual marks of the gross elements (liquidity, heat/fire, earthiness, motion/air) are not evident in trees, and if space is not measurable in them, then one cannot straightforwardly establish that trees are materially constituted by the gross elements. It highlights limits of inference when empirical indicators are absent.
In a philosophical exchange in Śānti Parva, Bharadvāja presents a reasoned objection: he challenges a material-elemental account of trees by listing the absence of perceptible signs of the elements and by invoking the immeasurability of ākāśa, concluding that the trees’ gross-material constitution is not demonstrable on those grounds.