Verse 2270

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

अन्धानन्धसमीपस्थः शुक्लोन्धैर्नावगम्यते ।
गम्यते चेतरैस्तस्य सदसत्त्वे न तान्प्रति ॥ २२७०॥

andhānandhasamīpasthaḥ śuklondhairnāvagamyate |
gamyate cetaraistasya sadasattve na tānprati || 2270||

“The white object standing beeore persons some of whom are blind and the others are not,—the object is not seen by those who are blind, while it is seen by those who are not; but this does not make the object existent and nonexistent.”—[Ślokavārtika-sambandhākṣepaparihāra, 37].—(2270)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

Says the Opponent—In the case of the two characters of being known and being not-known,—these two also imply the mutually contradictory characters of existence and non-existence as residing in the same substratum [it being the Object that has the characters of being known and being not-known, even though the knowledge resides in the men]; hence the said incongruity vitiates this view also. Because the cognition and non-cognition of things are invariably concomitant with their existence and non-existence; because they are based upon these; if it is not so, then it behoves you to explain why when two persons are standing upon equally suitable places, one sees the thing while the other does not.

In anticipation of this argument, the Mīmāṃsaka says:—[see verse 2270 above]

The Colour present before two persons—of whom one is blind and the other not so,—is actually seen only by one whose vision is perfect, and not by the other; and even for these men, this fact does not make the Colour existent (for the one) and non-existent (for the other).—The same would be the case with the Connection also.—(2270)

In order to meet the question as to what is the cause of this,—the Mīmāṃsaka offers the following explanation:—[see verse 2271 next]