Verse 3187

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

नचागमविधिः कश्चिन्नित्यसर्वज्ञबोधकः ।
कृत्रिमेण त्वकृत्रिमेण च सत्येन स कथं प्रतिपाद्यते ॥ ३१८७ ॥

nacāgamavidhiḥ kaścinnityasarvajñabodhakaḥ |
kṛtrimeṇa tvakṛtrimeṇa ca satyena sa kathaṃ pratipādyate || 3187 ||

“There is no scriptural declaration affirming an eternal omniscient person. How can any such person be proved by a declaration that is artificial and not true?”—(3187)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The following Text shows that the Omniscient Person cannot be cognised by means of the Word:—[see verse 3187 above]

That Cognition is ‘verbal’ which proceeds from Words, in regard to things not in close proximity to the man. It is of two kinds—that produced by the eternal Word, and that produced by the utterances of men. As asserting the existence of the Omniscient Person, there is no eternal scriptural Word; hence the former verbal Cognition is not possible in this case.—What we read in the Upaniṣads regarding ‘Him who is truthful in word, truthful in volution, truthful in desires—He should be sought after, He should be sought to be known’, and so forth,—all this should be understood to be merely commendatory.

As regards the human assertion that is quoted, such as—‘The Blessed Lord the Tathāgata, the Arhat, is Truly Enlightened, etc.’,—no reliability can attach to such assertions. How then could any reliable information be deduced from such an unreliable source?—(3187)