Verse 2.71

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

सति कुम्भो न नाशोऽस्ति नाशोऽपि न तदाश्रयः ।
अस्ति चेत्पूर्ववद्धर्मी न नष्टः पूर्ववद् घटः ॥ ७१ ॥

sati kumbho na nāśo'sti nāśo'pi na tadāśrayaḥ |
asti cetpūrvavaddharmī na naṣṭaḥ pūrvavad ghaṭaḥ || 71 ||

English translation of verse 2.71:

When a pot exists, its destruction cannot take place; when it does not exist, destruction cannot be in it. If it be said that (even after destruction) the object exists (as the locus of destruction) as before, there is no destruction of pot as before.

Notes:

Since it is impossible to prove the destruction of any object, the momentariness of objects is not tenable. Either the object, say a pot, exists or not. If it exists, its non-existence or destruction is not true. The object which is existent cannot also be non-existent at the same time, existence and non-existence being related as contradictories. If it does not exist, there is no destruction of it. In the absence of the object, it is meaningless to talk about its destruction (nāśa). Destruction requires a locus (āśraya), and if the object is not there to serve as the locus, where is it located? It is no argument to say that the object continues as before to exist even after its destruction as the locus of destruction. It will only mean that there is no non-existence or destruction of object as in the earlier state.