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TATTVASANGRAHA : CHAPTER XXIV.
The compound asamskrta, etc. etc.' is to be explained as that organ of which the Ear-drum has not been embellished'.
In the word 'adhisthånadëshatah', the lasi' aftix at the end has the sense of the Locative.(2186).
Says the Opponent: If the articulations embellish the substratum, or the organ as subsisting in that substratum,-how is it that the Sounds whose presence is apprehended here and there do not come to embellish the substratum of the organs of all living beings ?
Answer (from the Mimāmsaka) :--
TEXT (2187).
"THERE IS NO EMBELLISHMENT OF THE AUDITORY ORGAN, IF AND WHEN THE ARTICULATION DOES NOT REACH THE LOCUS OF THE ORGAN; THUS THE RESTRICTION ON THE EMBELLISHMENT BECOMES DETERMINED ON THE BASIS OF THE DIVERSITY IN THE SUBSTRATUM (OR LOCUS) OF THE ORGAN."—[Shlokavārtika
-ETERNALITY OF WORDS, 70-71).—(2187)
COMMENTARY.
Even if Articulations tend to embellish the substratum, or the organ localised in that substratum,-in either case, it is only when they actu get at the object to be embellished that they produce the embellishment; not when they do not get at it. Hence the embellishment cannot affect the substratum of the organs of all persons.
The mention of the Auditory Organ' in the Teact is only by way of illustration ; for the matter of that there is no embellishment of the substratum also.
In some places, the reading is 'aprāptakarnadèshädvā'. Under that reading, the meaning would be that the answer given before was based upon the idea of the embellishment affecting the Organ through its substratum ; while the answer provided under the clause in question is that even when there is no embellishment of the Organ through the embellishment of its substratum, there can be no objection to the view put forward; because only those air particles are fit for bringing about the embellishment which have actually reached the base of the Ear-drum, not those that have not got at it; it is with this other answer in view that the clause has been added.
Thus, etc. This sums up the explanation.-(2187)
The following text sets forth an objection raised by the Opponent against all the three alternative explanations detailed above :