Verse 1500

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

तत्राकर्तृकवाक्यस्य सम्भवार्थावसङ्गतौ ।
तस्मादसम्भवि प्रोक्तं प्रथमं शाब्दलक्षणम् ॥ १५०० ॥

tatrākartṛkavākyasya sambhavārthāvasaṅgatau |
tasmādasambhavi proktaṃ prathamaṃ śābdalakṣaṇam || 1500 ||

As regards the ‘eternal sentence’, its possibility and expressiveness (usefulness) are both improbable; hence the first definition of ‘verbal cognition’ is an ‘impossible’ one.—(1500)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

In the following Text, the author proceeds to show that the definition of Verbal Cognition propounded in Text 1489, as ‘that Cognition which is derived from the eternal sentence’,—is open to the charge of being ‘impossible’:—[see verse 1500 above]

There is no possibility of there being an ‘eternal sentence’, because it has been established that all things are in perpetual flux; also because of the reasons that are going to be adduced.

Even if such ‘eternal Sentence’ were possible, it could not convey a meaning (and serve any useful purpose).

Hence the statement that—“Through the eternal Sentence imperceptible things become known”—is impossible; hence the proposed definition is an ‘impossible’ one.—(1500)