Establishment of Brahman 3.58

3.58

na tāvadayaṃ śabdamātrasyānapekṣitapuruṣasaṃbandhāsaṃbandhasya śaktipravibhāgaḥ ---
yadekatra niyogaḥ śabdārthaḥ /
anyatra viniyogaḥ, yathā gośabdasya sāsnādimān, aśvaśabdasya kesarādimān /
yato lokādhigatasāmarthyo vede 'pi pratipādakaḥ /
loke cedviniyogaḥ śabdārthaḥ, tatraivāsya sāmarthyamadhigatam, na niyoge /
tatra vede 'pi viniyoga eva pramāṇārthaḥ syāt /

First of all, this division of expressive power does not belong to word as such, without regard to connection or non-connection with a person—namely that in one case an injunction is the meaning of the word, and in the other case application is, just as the word 'cow' means that which possesses a dewlap and the word 'horse' that which possesses a mane. For a word conveys meaning in the Veda too only with the expressive power grasped from ordinary usage. If application were the meaning of the word in ordinary usage, its expressive power would be apprehended only there, not in an injunction. In that case, in the Veda too, application alone would be the meaning established by the means of valid cognition.