Verse 807

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

न हि तेन सहोत्पन्ना नित्यत्वान्नाप्यवस्थिताः ।
तत्र प्रागविभुत्वेन नचाऽऽयान्त्यतोऽक्रियाः ॥ ८०७ ॥

na hi tena sahotpannā nityatvānnāpyavasthitāḥ |
tatra prāgavibhutvena nacā''yāntyato'kriyāḥ || 807 ||

The universals cannot be said to have come into existence' along with the new jar,—because they are eternal; nor can they be said to have been there already, because (ex hypothesi) they are not all-pervading; nor can they be said to have come from elsewhere, because they are immobile.—(807)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

In the said case the Universal ‘Jar’ could either come into existence along with the different individual Jars,—or it would be there already,—or it would come in from another place;—only under these three conditions could the Universal be perceived, or subsist, in the Jar newly come into existence. As a matter of fact however, the Universal could not be produced along with the new Jar,—as it is eternal (and hence cannot be produced). Nor could it have been there already, because it is not all-pervading in character. Nor lastly could it come in from elsewhere, because it is immobile. How then could the Universal subsist, or be perceived, in this case?

The argument may be formulated as follows:—When in any place a thing is not produced, nor has it been already there, nor has it come from elsewhere, then it cannot be perceived, nor can it subsist,—just like the Horn on the Hare’s head;—where the Jar is produced in a place which had been devoid of it, the Universal is neither produced, nor has it been there already, nor has it come from elsewhere;—hence the wider character is not perceived (which implies the absence of the narrower character).—This Reason is not Inconclusive, because there is no other way (apart from the three mentioned) in which the Universal could subsist or be perceived.—(807)