Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
## Chapter 14: Devagama-Aapta-Mimamsa
Knowledge is not a proof-like appearance (pramanaabhas). However, it is both a proof (pramana) and a proof-like appearance in relation to external objects (baahya prameya). Knowledge that becomes available after the external object is known is a proof, and knowledge that does not become available after the external object is known, but something else is found, is a proof-like appearance. In this way, all knowledge is a proof in relation to the perception of its own nature (swaroopasanvedan), and none is a proof-like appearance. But in relation to the truth of the external object, it is a proof, and in relation to its falsity, it is a proof-like appearance. Therefore, the arrangement of proof and proof-like appearance is established by accepting both the internal meaning (knowledge) and the external meaning, not by accepting only one. This is the principle of anekanta (many-sidedness) which is established by syadvad (conditional logic).
By verse 84, those (Buddhists) who do not accept external meaning, but only accept its verbal (imaginary) perception, are resolved. It is said for them that whatever word there may be, its meaning is necessarily an external object. For example, take the word 'jiva' (soul). Its meaning is necessarily an external object because it is a noun. Whatever is a noun, its meaning is necessarily an external object, just as the word 'hetu' (cause) carries its meaning, the external object of the form of a cause. It is also noteworthy that the word 'jiva' is not used in the body or in the group of senses, etc., because there is no such common usage. The common usage is fixed in the context where it is used as 'the jiva went, the jiva is present'. No one uses this in the body, because it is inanimate, nor in the senses, because they are merely means of enjoyment, nor in objects like words, because they are enjoyed. He uses 'jiva' in the soul, the enjoyer. Therefore, the word 'jiva' is associated with the external meaning of the form of jiva. Maya, avidya, aprama, etc., which are nouns indicating delusion, are also associated with their respective meanings of maya, avidya, aprama, etc. For example, the noun 'prama' (knowledge) is associated with its meaning of the form of prama. These nouns cannot be said to be merely indicative of the speaker's intention, because the rule of the listener's inclination towards that particular action after hearing those nouns (names) is observed.