Verse 2221-2223

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

अप्सूर्यदर्शिनां नित्यं द्वेधा चक्षुः प्रवर्त्तते ।
एकमूर्ध्वमधस्ताच्च तत्रोर्ध्वांशुप्रकाशितम् ॥ २२२१ ॥
अधिष्ठानानृजुस्थत्वान्नात्मा सूर्यं प्रपद्यते ।
पारम्पर्यार्पितं सन्तमवाग्वृत्त्याऽवबुध्यते ॥ २२२२ ॥
ऊर्ध्वौर्ध्ववृत्तिं तदेकत्वादवागिव च मन्यते ।
अधस्तादेव तेनार्कः सान्तरालः प्रतीयते ॥ २२२३ ॥

apsūryadarśināṃ nityaṃ dvedhā cakṣuḥ pravarttate |
ekamūrdhvamadhastācca tatrordhvāṃśuprakāśitam || 2221 ||
adhiṣṭhānānṛjusthatvānnātmā sūryaṃ prapadyate |
pāramparyārpitaṃ santamavāgvṛttyā'vabudhyate || 2222 ||
ūrdhvaurdhvavṛttiṃ tadekatvādavāgiva ca manyate |
adhastādeva tenārkaḥ sāntarālaḥ pratīyate || 2223 ||

“When a man is looking at the sun and the water, his eye (rays) proceed in two ways,—one upwards and the other downwards; the perceiver does not perceive that sun which is illumined by the eye-rays proceeding upwards, because it is not in a straight line with the bodily substratum of the visual organ; while what is perceived by the downward bays is the sun shining above presented mediately (indirectly); and because it is the same sun that is so presented, the observer thinks that what is seen is ‘below’. It is thus that it is the sun itself that is seen below, through the intervening medium (of the downward rays).”—[Ślokavārtika—eternality op words, 186-188].—(2221-2223)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The opinion entertained is as follows;—If the organ were to go out and then render the Sun cognisable,—then it would be necessary that it should be seen above, not below;—what happens however is that the organ brings about the cognition while it is itself still in the body, and does not move upwards, as has been declared in the following words:—‘If the organ, going out, were to render the object cognisable there, then it might be as urged; as a matter of fact, however, it brings about the cognition while still in the body’.—(Ślokavārtika—Eternality of Words, 185-186.)

The whole process is as follows:—Those who see, in the vessel, the Water as well as the Sun, for these persons looking at the Sun and the Water, the single Visual Organ (in the shape of Rays) proceeds in two ways—one upward and the other downward;—then the Sun that is illumined by the upward rays is not seen by the observer;—why?—became it is not in a straight line with the substratum of the organ;—the substratum of the Visual Organ in the body does not lie in a straight line with the Sun;—but ‘mediately’—through an intervening medium—the Sun is presented to the Visual Rays by the rays of the Sun, and hence becomes seen through the downward rays;—so that what happens is that the Solar Rays present the luminous object to the Visual Rays, the Visual Rays present it to the Visual Organ, and the Visual Organ presents it to the perceiving observer. This is what is meant by the ‘mediate presentation’ of the luminous Sun. Thus it is that the Sun, shining above, is regarded by the observer as if it were below.—Who regards it so? The observing person;—and it is not that there is another Sun shining below.—Why is this so?—Because it is the same; i.e. the Sun is one, not diverse.—Others explain ‘tadekatvāt’ as ‘because the Visual Organ is one’.—Thus it is under the influence of the downward rays of the Visual Organ, as functioning through a medium, that the Sun is seen below, in the Well;—so also in the case of the diverse vessels containing Water; if it were not so, how could there be cognition of the Sun as one and the same?—(2221-2223)