Verse 3318-3319

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

रसनेन्द्रियसम्बन्धान्मद्याशुचिरसादयः ।
वेद्येरन्यदि तस्यैव तदानीं निन्द्यता भवेत् ॥ ३३१८ ॥
भूतार्थभावनोद्भूतमानसेनैव चेतसा ।
अप्राप्ता एव वेद्यन्ते निन्दिता अपि संवृतौ ॥ ३३१९ ॥

rasanendriyasambandhānmadyāśucirasādayaḥ |
vedyeranyadi tasyaiva tadānīṃ nindyatā bhavet || 3318 ||
bhūtārthabhāvanodbhūtamānasenaiva cetasā |
aprāptā eva vedyante ninditā api saṃvṛtau || 3319 ||

If the omniscient person had experienced the unclean taste, etc. through the contact of his gestatory organ, then alone could he be regarded as blameworthy. As a matter of fact however, things,—even those that are deprecated under ‘illusion’,—become cognised by him without actual contact, through the mind, whose perceptiveness has been brought about by the impressions of past experiences.—(3318-3319)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

It has been argued by the Mīmāṃsaka, under Text 3145, that—“If the Person had the direct perception of all things, then He would have direct knowledge of such tastes, etc. also as are unclean; who could assume the existence of such an Omniscient Person?”

The answer to this is as follows:—[see verses 3318-3319 above]

If the Omniscient Person had direct experience of the said tastes, etc.—even then that would not detract from His being the ‘knower of Dharma—If it is urged that—“He would become blameworthy”,—the answer is as follows:—The man who experiences the said Taste, etc. through the direct contact of these with the gestatory organ, becomes blameworthy; the Blessed Lord, however, has no such perception; He perceives things only through the Mind, and that also without its coming into contact with the thing; hence He is not regarded by people as blameworthy.

As a matter of fact, there is no one who is really blameworthy; because ‘blame’ is not something fixed, it is relative; for instance, what may be ‘blameworthy’ for the Vedic Scholar, is not so for the low-born; what happens in the world is that, under the spell of Illusion, Wine and such things are considered evil. But even so, if the Blessed Lord perceived these, He would not be ‘blameworthy’; because His perception of these is purely mental.

The following might be urged—“When other people suffer from tasting wine through its contact with the Gestatory Organ, so would He suffer from experiencing it through the Mind”.

That is not so. When the Taste, etc. are experienced through the contact of the Sense-organs, they either benefit or injure that organ and hence become sources of pain, etc.; but they are known to he the source of pain and suffering, not for all men, but only for some men whose mind has become disordered through the influence of their past misdeeds. For instance, Water becomes Pus for only some dead people, not for all.—All this, however, is not there in the case of the Blessed Lord. Because His experiences being through the Mind, there is no possibility of injury to the Sense-organs; specially because the Lord having all his five-fold activity free from the impurities of the ‘Afflictions’,—there is no possibility of his actions being influenced by the Afflictions. Nor is His Mind capable of being disordered, because He cognises all things in their right form and as evanescent. For these reasons, in the case of the Blessed Lord, there is no possibility of even mental pain, in the shape of unhappiness, etc.; specially because all these have their source in delusion.

All these objections, however, arise only if the External World exists; under the doctrine of Idealism, there is no room for all this at all.—For instance, for Idealists, there being no Colour-phase, there can be nothing ‘unclean’ for them in reality; nor can there be any impression due to that; because all this arises from Ideas only. All these therefore do not appear within range of the vision of persons who have realised the Highest Truth and have shaken off all impurities; just as, on being cured of visual disorder, people do not have any illusory cognitions like the ‘Hair-tuft’ and the like. This has been thus declared ‘The unclean Taste and other things manifest themselves only through Ignorance; hence they are imperceptible (for the Wise One); just like the second Moon

On the other hand, the Brāhmaṇa has resounding within his mouth, the words of the Veda, which, being all-pervading, are in contact with all unclean places; as such, how can he be free from blame?—(3318-3319)