Verse 2488

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

तिक्तपीतादिरूपेण प्रवृत्तं मधुरादिषु ।
ज्ञानं निर्विषयं यद्वच्छब्दज्ञानं यथा भवेत् ॥ २४८८ ॥

tiktapītādirūpeṇa pravṛttaṃ madhurādiṣu |
jñānaṃ nirviṣayaṃ yadvacchabdajñānaṃ yathā bhavet || 2488 ||

Just as the notion of ‘bitterness’ with regard to what is ‘sweet’, and of ‘yellow’ with regard to what is ‘white’, is without an objective basis,—of the same kind would the notion of the word-sound also be.—(2488)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

It has been argued by the Mīmāṃsaka, under Text 2150, that—“Those who have their minds perverted by the disorders of Bile perceive the Sweet as Bitter, etc. etc.”

The answer to this is as follows:—[see verse 2488 above]

This also sets aside the idea that ‘the cognition of the Word-Sound is due to that’. Because the Cognition which has no shape cannot have anything else for its object; otherwise there would be incongruities.—(2488)