Verse 2174-2175

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

येषां त्वप्राप्तजातोऽयं शब्दः श्रोत्रेण गृह्यते ।
तेषामप्राप्तितुल्यत्वाद्दूरव्यवहितादिषु ॥ २१७४ ॥
तत्र दूरसमीपस्थग्रहणाग्रहणे समे ।
स्यातां नच क्रमो नापि तीव्रमन्दादिसम्भवः ॥ २१७५ ॥

yeṣāṃ tvaprāptajāto'yaṃ śabdaḥ śrotreṇa gṛhyate |
teṣāmaprāptitulyatvāddūravyavahitādiṣu || 2174 ||
tatra dūrasamīpasthagrahaṇāgrahaṇe same |
syātāṃ naca kramo nāpi tīvramandādisambhavaḥ || 2175 ||

“There are some people, according to whom the word-sound is apprehended by the auditory organ, when it is produced but not in actual contact with that organ;—for them, the absence of contact being equally present in the case of distant and near sounds, the apprehension and non-apprehension by people far and near would be equally possible; and there could be no order of sequence, nor the greater and less intensity (of sounds heard).”—[Ślokavārtika—eternality of words, 119-121].—(2174-2175)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Question:—Why cannot the Articulations be known (inferred) as the causes of Production (and not of manifestation)?

Answer (from the Mīmāṃsaka):—[see verses 2174-2175 above]

According to the Buddhists, when Sound is apprehended by the Auditory Organ, it has been produced and is not in contact with the organ; in the compound ‘aprāptajāta’, ‘aprāpta’, ‘not in contact’, qualifies ‘jāta’, ‘produced because according to their doctrines, the Visual and Auditory Organs are operative without contact, and Sound is produced by the conjunction and disjunction of the Primary Elementary Substance (Air).—In accordance with the view of these people, the ‘non-contact’ with the Auditory Organ would be equally present in the cases of remote, obstructed and approximate Sounds, and their apprehension and non-apprehension by people far and near would be equally possible; that is, the apprehension by the man near the Sound would be exactly like that by the man far off,—there being no difference between the two.

Nor would there be any apprehension of Sound in succession; in the way that the apprehension by the nearer man comes first and then follows the apprehension by the remoter man.

Nor would there be any such difference in the hearing as that of greater or less intensity,—as is found to be the case in actual experience that the Sound heard by the nearer man is more intense than that heard by the remoter man. So also with the difference in grades of intensity also.—(2174-2175)