तत्परं पुरुषख्यातेर्गुणवैतृष्ण्यम् । (१-१६)

Tatparam puruṣakhāterguṇavaitṛṣṇyam. (1-16)

(Tatparam puruṣa-khāteḥ guṇa-vaitṛṣṇyam)

Because of discernment of puruṣa, superior vairāgya is absence of craving for the guṇas.

Analysis of the words of the aphorism

This sūtra is made up of three compound words, and as is often the case the verb to be is implied and not explicit. Tatparam is a compound of tat, a relative pronoun meaning ‘that’, and param, referring to vairāgya mentioned in the previous aphorism (dispassion). Param means superior to, or better than. The compound thus means Superior to that (the dispassion mentioned in the previous aphorism).

Puruṣa-khyāteḥ is another compound made up of Puruṣa and khyāti.  Khyāti means ‘knowledge / discernment’ and the compound is declined in the fifth case, meaning ‘because of’ (or the result of). Thus this word means ‘because of discernment of Puruṣa’.

Guṇa-vaitṛṣṇyam, consists guṇa and vaitṛṣyṇam.  Guṇa here means the subtle aspects of the sattva, rajas and tamas, also referred to as tanmātras.  The objects  mentioned in the previous aphorism are made up of grossified  sattva, rajas and tamas. Vaitṛṣṇyam is formed by addition of several suffixes and a prefix to a verb tṛṣ. This word means absence of craving. The compound thus is translated as ‘absence of craving for guṇas.’ This is the result of discernment of the nature of Puruṣa, one who is unconnected with prakṛti, who is composed of the three guṇas.