Verse 2.670

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

प्रत्यक्षादेव भेदोऽयमभिधाननियोगयोः ।
तस्य चेद् व्यभिचारित्वं व्यर्थं सर्वज्ञभाषितम् ॥ ६७० ॥

pratyakṣādeva bhedo'yamabhidhānaniyogayoḥ |
tasya ced vyabhicāritvaṃ vyarthaṃ sarvajñabhāṣitam || 670 ||

English translation of verse 2.670:

The difference between an assertive and an injunctive text is, indeed, immediately known (by the auditory sense even as they are uttered). If it be said that perception cannot always be relied upon, then what has been said by the omniscient sage (Jaimini) is futile.

Notes:

The Niyogavādin cannot argue that all sentences are injunctive and that there are no assertive texts that reveal the nature of the existent object (vastubodhaka [vastubodhakam]). The difference between an injunctive text and an assertive one is so obvious that one perceives it as soon as they are uttered. It is no argument to say that perceptual knowledge is erroneous and that it cannot be depended upon. This is to ignore the definition of perception given by the omniscient Jaimini in his Pūrva-

mīmāṃsā-sūtra (I, i, 4) and the learned commentary thereon by Śabara. According to Jaimini, perception is that cognition which arises in the mind from the contact of the senses with the object cognized. It is the cognition of an object that is actually present at that time. Śabara in his bhāṣya on this sūtra states that what is erroneous is not valid perception, and that what is valid perception is not erroneous (yadvyabhicarati na tatpratyakṣam, yanna[?] vyabhicarati tatpratyakṣam). So the difference between Injunctive and assertive texts, which is perceived, cannot be ignored with a view to maintain that every sentence is injunctive.