Verse 2211-2214

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

व्यञ्जकध्वन्यधीनत्वात्तद्देशे हि स गृह्यते ।
नच ध्वनीनां सामर्थ्यं व्याप्तुं व्योम निरन्तरम् ॥ २२११ ॥
तेनातेन विच्छिन्नरूपेण नासौ सर्वत्र गम्यते ।
ध्वनीनां भिन्नदेशत्वाच्छ्रुतिस्तत्रानु(व?)रुध्यते ॥ २२१२ ॥
अपूरितान्तरालत्वाद्विच्छेदश्चावसीयते ।
तेषां चाल्पकदेशात्वाच्छब्देऽप्यविभुतामतिः ॥ २२१३ ॥
गतिमद्वेगवत्त्वाभ्यां ते चायान्ति यतो यतः ।
श्रोता ततस्ततः शब्दमायान्तमिव मन्यते ॥ २२१४ ॥

vyañjakadhvanyadhīnatvāttaddeśe hi sa gṛhyate |
naca dhvanīnāṃ sāmarthyaṃ vyāptuṃ vyoma nirantaram || 2211 ||
tenātena vicchinnarūpeṇa nāsau sarvatra gamyate |
dhvanīnāṃ bhinnadeśatvācchrutistatrānu(va?)rudhyate || 2212 ||
apūritāntarālatvādvicchedaścāvasīyate |
teṣāṃ cālpakadeśātvācchabde'pyavibhutāmatiḥ || 2213 ||
gatimadvegavattvābhyāṃ te cāyānti yato yataḥ |
śrotā tatastataḥ śabdamāyāntamiva manyate || 2214 ||

“Sound is heard in only a particular place, because it is dependent (for its cognition) upon the articulation that manifests it; and articulations have not the capacity to pervade the entire space; consequently, the word-sound is not heard continuously all over the world; and because the articulations appear in different places, the hearing is restricted to those places; and as the intervening spaces (between the articulations) are not filled up (by the articulation), there is the cognition of a break (in the continuity of the sound). And, as these articulations appear only in limited places, there arises the notion that sound is not all-pervading. Further, as these articulations have movement and a certain velocity,—from whatever place these articulations proceed, the hearer thinks that the sound that he hears also comes from that same place.”—[Ślokavārtika—eternality of words—172-176].—(2211-2214)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Says the Opponent—In the case of the Sun, there are grounds for the illusion. of multiplicity, in the shape of the diverse receptacles in the form of Water and the other reflecting surfaces; in the case in question however, there is no ground for such illusion; while what we have put forward as the Reason is accompanied by the qualification ‘there being no grounds for illusion’; how then can our Reason be regarded as being ‘False and Inconclusive’?

The Mīmāṃsaka’s answer to this is as follows:—[see verses 2211-2214 above]:

What is meant is that in the case in question also, there is ground for illusion, in the shape of the diversity of the manifesting articulations, so that the two cases stand on the same footing.

‘Because it is dependent upon the manifesting articulations’;—i.e. the Cognition of Sound is so dependent.

‘That place’—the place where the articulation has appeared.

‘That’—Sound.

In what way the manifesting articulation becomes the cause of the illusion of interception is explained by the words—‘and articulations do not have the capacity, etc. etc.’;—‘asau’ stands for the Sound;—‘the hearing’—of the Sound;—‘tatra’—in that part of Ākāśa,

‘As the intervening spaces are not filled up’;—what is meant is that they are not filled up by the articulations.

‘Teṣām’—stands for the articulations.

‘Te ca āyānti’—this also stands for the articulations.—(2211-2214)