________________
Verse 173
Any substance - soul or non-soul - exhibits neither absolute permanence (nityatva) nor absolute transience (anityatva). Also, the substance exhibits neither absolute cognition (jñāna, bodha) nor absolute non-existence (abhāva); no substance is actually seen as such. The substance is actually seen with its ever-changing attributes of affirmation (tat, vidhi – existence) as well as of negation (atat, nisedha – non-existence) or of permanence (nityatva) as well as of transience (anityatva). It is without a beginning and an end. Just as a single substance is permanent (nitya) as well as transient (anitya), one (eka) as well as many (aneka), and distinctive (bheda) as well as non-distinctive (abheda), all substances exhibit these attributes.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Ācārya Samantabhadra's Āptamīmāmsā (Devāgamastotra): अभावैकान्तपक्षेऽपि भावापह्नववादिनाम् । बोधवाक्यं प्रमाणं न केन साधनदूषणम् ॥१२॥
भाव को नहीं मानने वाले - सभी पदार्थों को सर्वथा असत्-रूप कहने वाले - अभावैकान्तवादियों के मत में भी इष्ट तत्त्व की सिद्धि नहीं हो सकती है क्योंकि वहाँ न बोध (ज्ञान) का अस्तित्व है और न वाक्य (आगम) का और इसलिए प्रमाण भी नहीं बनता है। प्रमाण के अभाव में स्वमत की सिद्धि तथा परमत का खण्डन किस प्रकार संभव है?
If it be accepted that the objects of knowledge have 'absolute non-existence' (abhāvaikānata) character and their ‘existence' (bhāva) character is denied, cognition (bodha) and sentence
143
