Verse 244-245

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

यथा वा दर्पणः स्वच्छो यथा वा स्फटिकोपलः ।
यदेवाऽऽधीयते तत्र तच्छायां प्रतिपद्यते ॥ २४४ ॥
तथैव नित्यचैतन्याः पुमांसो देहवृत्तयः ।
गृह्णन्ति करणानीतान् रूपादीन्धीरसौ च नः ॥ २४५ ॥

yathā vā darpaṇaḥ svaccho yathā vā sphaṭikopalaḥ |
yadevā''dhīyate tatra tacchāyāṃ pratipadyate || 244 ||
tathaiva nityacaitanyāḥ pumāṃso dehavṛttayaḥ |
gṛhṇanti karaṇānītān rūpādīndhīrasau ca naḥ || 245 ||

“Or, the clean mirror, or the rock-crystal, reflects the image of only what is placed before it in the same manner, souls, though possessed of eternal sentience, apprehend colour and other things only when they are themselves in the body and the things are presented to them by the organs. and it is this sentience that we call ‘intelligence’.”—(244-245)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The epithet ‘clean’ has been added because the dirty mirror is not capable of reflecting images.—‘Placed before it’,—carried to it,—In the same manner;—this introduces what has to be illustrated. Though, in reality, the Souls are all-pervading, yet, it is only when, under the influence of the Unseen Force (of destiny), they subsist in the Body, that they apprehend things that are presented to them by the Eye and other organs,—not while they are away from the Body.—This eternal Sentience is what we call ‘Buddhi’ (Intelligence), and it is not different from it,—like the ‘Buddhi’ (Cosmic Intellect) of the Sāṃkhyas.—(244-245)

Question—If that is so, how is it that this Cognition is known as. evanescent?

In answer to this, the next Text proceeds to show the reason, already indicated before, why Cognition is regarded as evanescent, and thereby explains that evanescence:—[see verse 246 next]