Verse 242

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

बुद्धीनामपि चैतन्यस्वाभाव्यात्पुरुषस्य च ।
नित्यत्वमेकताचेष्टा भेदश्चेद्बिषयाश्रयः ॥ २४२ ॥

buddhīnāmapi caitanyasvābhāvyātpuruṣasya ca |
nityatvamekatāceṣṭā bhedaścedbiṣayāśrayaḥ || 242 ||

“Cognitions, and the soul also, are held to be eternal and one, on the ground of their being of the nature of ‘intelligence’; if there is diversity, it is due to the object.”—(242)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Not perceiving all these incongruities and self-contradiction, Kumārila declares as follows:—[see verse 242 above]

[This is a quotation, from Ślokavārtika, Chapter on Eternality of Sound, 401].

Cognitions and the Soul also are regarded as eternal and one;—why?—because they are of the nature of Intelligence; that is, because, under our view Spirit is of the nature of Intelligence in the form of Cognitions.

Question—How then is it that such diversity (in Cognitions) is recognised as ‘Colour-Cognition’, ‘Taste-Cognition’ and so forth?

Answer—“If there is diversity, it is due to the object; the term ‘if’, has been used as admitting (for the sake of argument) the opinion of the other party; the sense being—‘If—in case—diversity be assumed”.—(242)

Objection (to Kumārila’s position)—If Cognition is eternal and one, then, how is it that it apprehends Colour and other things consecutively? It should apprehend all at once, there being no distinction (to which the successiveness would be due).

The answer to this (from Kumārila’s point of view) is given in the following Text:—[see verse 243 next]