Verse 247

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

तत्र बोधात्मकत्वेन प्रत्यभिज्ञायते मतिः ।
घटहस्त्यादिबुद्धित्वं तद्भेदाल्लोकसंमतम् ॥ २४७ ॥

tatra bodhātmakatvena pratyabhijñāyate matiḥ |
ghaṭahastyādibuddhitvaṃ tadbhedāllokasaṃmatam || 247 ||

“Cognition is always recognised as being of the nature of ‘intelligence’; as regards the cognitions of the jar, the elephant and so forth, their diversity is held by people to be due to the diversity among those things.”—(247)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Question—How do you know that Cognition is eternal?

Answer:—[see verse 247 above]

The term ‘tatra’ is a meaningless term used as introducing the sentence—‘Being of the nature of Intelligence’;—because it is always recognised as ‘Cognition’, it is eternal, like the Word-Sound.

“If that be so, then how is it that in common parlance, we find such distinction among Cognitions accepted by observers as ‘this is the Cognition of the Jar’, ‘that is the Cognition of the Cloth’ and so forth?”

Answer—As regards the Cognitions of the Jar, etc. etc.;—‘due to the diversity among those things’,—i.e. the diversity among the Jar, the Elephant and the rest.—(247)

The same idea is further clarified by the following Text:—[see verse 248 next]