Verse 3196-3198

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

किंचिज्ज्ञोपि हि शक्नोति स्तोकान्भ्रमयितुं नरान् ।
सर्वज्ञं येन गृह्णीयुस्ते भक्तिभ्रान्तचेतसः ॥ ३१९६ ॥
भुक्तचिन्तितमुष्टिस्थद्रव्यसंवादनक्षमाः ।
केचित्कुहकविज्ञानैर्द्धर्मादिज्ञानवर्जिताः ॥ ३१९७ ॥
तथा मायेन्द्रजालादिकुशलाः केचिदज्ञकम् ।
भ्रामयन्ति जनं येन सर्वज्ञाः प्रतिभान्ति ते ॥ ३१९८ ॥

kiṃcijjñopi hi śaknoti stokānbhramayituṃ narān |
sarvajñaṃ yena gṛhṇīyuste bhaktibhrāntacetasaḥ || 3196 ||
bhuktacintitamuṣṭisthadravyasaṃvādanakṣamāḥ |
kecitkuhakavijñānairddharmādijñānavarjitāḥ || 3197 ||
tathā māyendrajālādikuśalāḥ kecidajñakam |
bhrāmayanti janaṃ yena sarvajñāḥ pratibhānti te || 3198 ||

“A man who knows little can delude a few men, to the extent that, having their mind deluded by devotion, they come to accept him as omniscient. Through the art of chiromancy, some people are able to know what has been eaten, what is being thought of, what lies within a man’s fist and so forth,—though they are entirely devoid of any knowledge of dharma and cognate matters. Similarly, people expert in the arts of illusion, magic, etc. deceive an ignorant man;—by which they appear to be omniscient.”—(3196-3198)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The following might be urged—If the Omniscient Person did not possess the power to know the things known to all men,—how could He have the power of comprehending even some of those things? And yet He did have the power to comprehend some of those things; hence we conclude that He did possess the power to know all things.

The answer to this is as follows:—[see verses 3196-3198 above]

By knowing only a few supersensuous things, a man cannot be regarded as possessing knowledge of Dharma and Adharma;—because such a reasoning would be inconclusive in view of the ease of men expert in chiromancy, magic and so forth. For instance.by the use of certain incantations and medicinal herbs, people are found to comprehend rightly the food a man has eaten, the thing he has thought of in his mind, the thing lying in his closed fist; and yet merely by this, they do not become persons conversant with such things as Dharma and Adharma. For instance, some people who are expert in magic are able to show to people strange gardens, flying cars, celestial damsels, and heavenly beings in the sky. Hence in view of all this, the reason adduced must be rejected as ‘Inconclusive’.—(3196-3198)