Verse 2424-2425

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

अप्रामाण्यनिवृत्त्यर्था वेदस्यापौरुषेयता ।
येष्टा साऽपिच वस्तुत्वात्साधनीयैव साधनैः ॥ २४२४ ॥
श्रुतेः स्वतन्त्रतैषादि(तेष्टा हि ?) पुंव्यापारानपेक्षणात् ।
सा च वस्तुगतो धर्मो वस्त्वात्मा वा तथाविधः ॥ २४२५ ॥

aprāmāṇyanivṛttyarthā vedasyāpauruṣeyatā |
yeṣṭā sā'pica vastutvātsādhanīyaiva sādhanaiḥ || 2424 ||
śruteḥ svatantrataiṣādi(teṣṭā hi ?) puṃvyāpārānapekṣaṇāt |
sā ca vastugato dharmo vastvātmā vā tathāvidhaḥ || 2425 ||

If the idea of the Veda being without an author is insisted upon, in order to remove all chances of its unreliability,—then, such an idea, being a positive entity, must be established by means of proofs.—(2424)

The Veda is regarded to be self-sufficient,—because it does not depend upon the action of any person; and the said self-sufficiency must be either the property of a positive entity only, or such a positive entity itself.—(2425)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

[verse 2424]:

It has been argued under Text 2096 that—“The Veda is held to be without an Author, in order to remove the chances of unreliability, etc. etc.”.

The answer to this is as follows:—[see verse 2424 above]

‘It has been shown’—under the chapter on the Means of Eight Cognition.

‘Tāsām’—of Verbal Authority, Analogy and Presumption.—(2423)

Question:—“How can that idea be a positive entity?”

Answer:—[see verse 2425 above]

[verse 2425]:

What is meant by the Veda ‘being without an Author’ is that it is self-sufficient; as the argument that is put forward is that “the Veda is independent of the action of Persons, and hence valid and reliable as a means of knowledge If it were not so, then what peculiar character would it be which would be proved by the proving of the fact that the Veda is not the work of an Author?

This character of ‘not being the work of an author’ is the property of an entity for those who regard the distinction between the thing and its property as real.—As a matter of fact, however, the ‘property’ is only the nature of the entity itself, and is spoken of as its ‘property’ for the purpose of precluding other diversities. This is what is meant by the words—‘or a positive entity itself’—‘Such’—i.e. self-sufficient.—(2425)