Aptamimansa Critique of an Authority Bhasya

Author(s): Samantbhadracharya, Akalankadev, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Jagruti Dilip Sheth Dr

Page 77

CRITIQUE OF AN AUTHORITY __ नैतत् प्रेक्षापूर्वकारिभिराश्रयणीयम्, पुण्यपापप्रेत्यभावबन्धमोक्षविकल्परहितत्वात्, नैरात्म्यादिवत् । न चैतत् क्वचित् एकान्ते संभवति ॥४०॥
Comment on verses 37-40 These verses contain Samantabhadra's criticism of the doctrine of absolute permanence. The difficulty is that he has chosen Sānkhya to be the representative rival system in this connection. For as a matter of fact, the Sankhya can be said to be an upholder of the doctrine of absolute permanence only insofar as his view of the psychical phenomena is concerned; as for the physical phenomena the Sankhya position is not much different from that of the Jaina himself, the only significant difference between the two being that the former views the world of physical phenomena as the series of modifications undergone by one permanent root-substance called prakti while the latter views it as the series of modifications undergone by numerous permanent root-substances called atoms. Samantabhadra seems to be aware of the anomaly of his present criticism, but he submits that the Sārkhya's attempt to do justice to the aspect of change (exhibited by the world of physical phenomena) is inconsistent with the latter's advocacy of absolute permanence. The submission is unfair to the Sankhya whose only fault seems to be his using a language that tends to suggest as if an effect lies hidden in its cause in a ready-made form. In any case, Samantabhadra's disagreement with the Sankhya should be treated as an inner-family disagreement between two empiricists. The verses 37-39 pertain to ontological and epistemological matters, the verse 40 to the ethical ones.
Verses 41-54 क्षणिकैकान्तपक्षेऽपि प्रेत्यभावाधसम्भवः । प्रत्यभिज्ञाद्यभावान कार्यारम्भः कुतः फलम् ॥४१॥
If one maintains that things are possessed of the character absolute momentariness', then too re-birth etc. remain an impossibility. Certainly, in the absence of the phenomena like recognition etc. how can there be the production of an effect and (consequently, how can there be the reaping of fruits of the acts performed ? (41)
क्षणक्षयैकान्तदर्शनम् अहितम्, असंभवत्प्रेत्यभावादित्वात्, उच्छेदैकान्तवत् ध्रौव्यैकान्ताभ्युपगमवत् वा। भिन्नकालक्षणानाम् असंभवद्वासनत्वात् अकार्यकारणवत् ।