Verse 712

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

विशेषा एव केचित्तु व्यावृत्तेरेव हेतवः ।
नित्यद्रव्यस्थिता येऽन्त्या विशेषा इति वर्णिताः ॥ ७१२ ॥

viśeṣā eva kecittu vyāvṛttereva hetavaḥ |
nityadravyasthitā ye'ntyā viśeṣā iti varṇitāḥ || 712 ||

“There are some ‘particulars’ which serve as the basis of ‘exclusion’ only; these have been described as ‘ultimate individualities subsisting in eternal substances—(712)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The Author states the definition of ‘Ultimate Individuality’, as provided by the other party:—[see verse 712 above]

There are some ‘Particulars’ which are held to be ‘Particulars’ only, not ‘Universals’; became they serve as the basis of exclusion—i.e. of ‘exclusive notion’—only.

“Which are these?”

Answer—‘These have been defined, etc. etc.’;—it has been declared (in the Vaiśeṣika-Sūtra) that—“Ultimate Individualities subsisting in eternal Substances are the ultimate (differentias)”.—‘Subsisting in eternal Substances’,—i.e. subsisting in Atoms, Ākāśa, Time, Space, Soul and Mind. As Atoms are the two ends—beginning and end—of the Universe,—and liberated Souls and liberated Minds continue to exist till the end of the Birth-rebirth-Cycte, and hence forming one end,—the Specific Individualities subsisting in them have been called ‘ultimate’; specially as it is only in these that the said Individualities are more clearly perceived. Their Subsistence too is always in the eternal Substance, like the Atom. This is the reason why they have been described both as ‘ultimate’ and as ‘subsisting in eternal Substances’,—These are called ‘Viśeṣa’, ‘Specific Individualities’, because they serve as the basis of the absolute exclusion of the eternal Substances from one another, and hence serve to ‘specify’, ‘distinguish’, their substratum from everything else.—(712)