Tattva Sangraha Vol 2

SR No.: 007609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kamlashila, Ganganatha Jha
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra
Publication Year: 1939
Total Pages: 887
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 84 MB

Page 379

1104
TATTVASANGRAHA: CHAPTER XXIV.
In answer to this, the Author, with a view to leaving no room for the Opponent to say anything, says-There may be such comprehension, etc. etc. -The idea is as follows:-There would have been annulment of our Proposition if we triod to prove the meaninglessness of the Veda by itself; what we are doing is only to put forward a Reductio Ad Absurdum; and this cannot set aside our Proposition, as there is no Proposition in such an argument at all; all that is done is to show that when the other party does not admit the absence of the narrower factor even when the wider factor is absent, he incurs an undesirable incongruity and contradicts his own words.
Nor is our Proposition contrary to any perceived fact. Because, even when the Veda is really meaningless, such comprehension of meaning as has been urged may be the effect of the explanations provided by people; for instance, in regard to the Vedic sentence Heaven follows from the Agni. hotra, some one may say, what are described in this sentence are the doings of Bharata, Urvashi and other persons'; and even though he may have offered this explanation without actually knowing the meaning of the sentence, yet subsequently, the man actually has the comprehension of the said idea from the sentence. But this does not make the Vedic sentence really expressive of that meaning.- In the same manner, the comprehension of the meaning that has been urged by the other party may proceed from the Vedic sentence, even though, in reality, this sentence may be entirely meaningless-How then can our Proposition be annulled by a fact of Percep. tion':-(2356-2357)
Further, it may be that in the Veda, there is absence, only of the defects conducive to falsity, not of the excellences; even so, the 'inconclusiveness' of your Probans is irresistible. This is shown in the following:
TEXT (2358).
EVEN IF THERE BE NO DEFECTS, TRUTHTULNESS DOES NOT BECOME PROVED SIMPLY BECAUSE THE OTHER ALTERNATIVE MUST BE ACCEPTED; BECAUSE THERE IS A THIRD ALTERNATIVE POSSIBLE, THAT OF MEANINGLESSNESS
(2358)
COMMENTARY.
If, in connection with Words, there were only two possible alternatives falsity and truthfulness,--then, the absence of one alternative would necessarily imply the presence of the other; there is however a third alternative possible -that they are meaningless ; under the circumstances, the negation of falsity does not necessarily imply the assertion of truthfulness; as there is no negation of the other alternative of meaninglessness.-(2358)