Verse 1865-1868

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

कललादिषु विज्ञानमस्तीत्येतच्च साहसम् ।
असञ्जातेन्द्रियत्वाद्धि न तत्रार्थोऽवगम्यते ॥ १८६५ ॥
न चार्थांवगतेरन्यद्रूपं ज्ञानस्य युज्यते ।
मूर्च्छादावपि तेनास्य सद्भावो नोपपद्यते ॥ १८६६ ॥
नचापि शक्तिरूपेण तदा धीरवतिष्ठते ।
निराश्रयत्वाच्छक्तीनां स्थितिर्न ह्यवकल्पते ॥ १८६७ ॥
ज्ञानाधारात्मनोऽसत्त्वे देह एव तदाश्रयः ।
अन्ते देहनिवृत्तौ च ज्ञानवृत्तिः किमाश्रया ॥ १८६८ ॥

kalalādiṣu vijñānamastītyetacca sāhasam |
asañjātendriyatvāddhi na tatrārtho'vagamyate || 1865 ||
na cārthāṃvagateranyadrūpaṃ jñānasya yujyate |
mūrcchādāvapi tenāsya sadbhāvo nopapadyate || 1866 ||
nacāpi śaktirūpeṇa tadā dhīravatiṣṭhate |
nirāśrayatvācchaktīnāṃ sthitirna hyavakalpate || 1867 ||
jñānādhārātmano'sattve deha eva tadāśrayaḥ |
ante dehanivṛttau ca jñānavṛttiḥ kimāśrayā || 1868 ||

“To assert that consciousness resides in the foetus, etc. is sheer audacity; nothing can re cognised at that stage, as the sense-organs are not there; and consciousness can have no form other than the cognition of things; it is for this same reason that there is no consciousness in the state of swoon. nor can consciousness exist there in the form of a latent potency; because no potencies can exist without a substratum; and as there is no soul that could be that substratum of consciousness, the body is the only substratum possible for it. So that at the end, when the body has ceased to exist, wherein could the consciousness subsist?”—(1865-1868)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

An objection is raised—Even before the Body has been completely formed, and while it still exists only in the form of the foetus, etc.,—Consciousness is already there, though in latent condition; and this Consciousness is known as being produced by the Consciousness in the past body; then how can it be asserted that it proceeds from the Body itself only?

The answer to this is as follows:—[see verses 1865-1868 above]

“The Sense-organ and the Object are the cause of the birth of Consciousness;—because Consciousness consists only in the apprehension of things; at the foetus-stage of the Body, neither the Sense-organs nor the Objects are there; how then could there appear the effect of these, in the form of Consciousness? Thus it is proved that on account of the absence of the Cause, there can be no Consciousness, even in a swoon.—Such is the upshot of the whole.

“It cannot be right to assert that at that stage the Consciousness is there in the state of latent Potency. Because at that stage, there is no substratum for such a Potency, either in the shape of the ‘Soul’ postulated by the Naiyāyīka, or in that of the ‘Chain of Cognitions’ (postulated by the Buddhist); and Potency cannot be there without a substratum. Hence it follows that on the ground of sheer capacity, the Body alone can be the substratum of Consciousness. For the simple reason that there is nothing else that could be the required substratum,—either in the shape of the ‘Chain of Cognitions’ or the ‘Soul Consequently, at the end, when the. Body dies, the substratum in the shape of the Body having ceased to exist, how could the Consciousness exist without a substratum?

“Thus it is proved that there can be no Future Birth.”—(1865-1868)