Gandharavada

SR No.: 006739
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Esther A Solomon
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyasabha
Publication Year: 1966
Total Pages: 400
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 213

124
- The effect is not found in the constituent cause and the instrumental cause severally and till the effect, e.g. jar, is not produced it cannot be called jar, etc.; hence by nature it is indefinable. Whatever nomenclature we find in the world is with reference to the total (causal) apparatus, hence things do not exist. And if things do not exist the causal apparatus too does not exist (1695).
What is imperceptible is, like the ass's horn, unreal. But even if we take into consideration perceptible things, they are not indivisible wholes, they are made up of parts. Roughly speaking everything has a fore part, middle and hind part. The latter two are not visible as they are covered from view by the fore part. The fore part too can be infinitely divided into parts so that these will be just atoms and so not perceptible. Therefore things like post, etc. cannot be perceived in reality. Being non-perceived they are unreal like the ass's horn. This again proves that everything is void. It is said :
Yävad dřśyam paras tāvad bhāgaḥ sa ca na drśyate;
tena te nābhiläpyā hi bhāvāḥ sarve svabhā vataḥ. -‘Of what is perceptible, the hind part is not seen. Thus all things are by nature indefinable'. By such reasoning Vyakta argues out a case in favour of the unreality of all things. The Vedas, on the other hand, refer to the existence of things. On account of this, Vyakta has a doubt as to the existence or non-existence of things in reality (1696).
After having set forth the doubt in Vyakta's mind, Mahā vīra shows that this doubt itself does not hold good in that context. If, as Vyakta argues, there are no objects whatsoever in the world, no one would entertain a doubt as to their existence or otherwise. No one even for a while has any doubt regarding sky-flower or ass's horn. Doubt can arise only with respect to existing things as when we say 'Is this a man or a post ?' If everything is regarded as unreal, no special reason can be adduced on account of which doubt as regards man-post is justified but does not present itself in respect of sky-flower. It could have