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प्रवचनसार
or chopping. Objects like the earth, the mountain and the wood, are sthula-sthula - extremely gross. The qualities - colour (varna), taste (rasa), smell (gandha) and touch (sparśa) – are amenable to recognition by the senses. One may argue that the atom (paramāņu) and the molecules fit to turn into karmas - kārmāṇavargaṇā - are not recognized the senses; how can these be called amenable to recognition by the senses? The answer is that these have inherent capacity of recognition by the senses; on union with other matter these certainly become amenable to recognition by the senses.
All the above-mentioned six kinds of matter (pudgala) must have the four qualities (guna) of touch (sparsa) etc.; these qualities are not found in other substances (dravya) that are non-corporeal (amūrtika). These qualities (guna), therefore, are marks (cihna, lakṣana) of the matter (pudgala). The sound (sabda) is recognized by the sense-of-hearing (śrotra) but it is the mode (paryaya) of the matter (pudgala), not its quality (guna). Since sound is produced by the union of molecules (skandha) of the matter (pudgala), it is the mode (paryaya) and not the quality (guna) of the matter (pudgala). Why the sound is the mode (paryaya) and not the quality (guna) of the matter (pudgala)? The answer is that the mode (paryaya) is marked by transitoriness and the quality (guna) by permanence. If sound were to be the quality (guna) of the matter (pudgala), all matter (pudgala) would be of the nature of sound (sabda); this is certainly not the case. The sound is produced by the union of molecules (skandha) of the matter (pudgala); it is, therefore, the mode (paryaya) of the matter (pudgala) and not its quality (guna). One may argue that as the earth is the mode (paryaya) of the matter (pudgala) and it is recognized by the four senses of touch etc., similarly, sound too, which is the mode (paryaya) of the matter (pudgala), should be amenable to recognition by the four senses of touch (sparsa) etc. besides by the sense of hearing (śrotra). There is no anomaly in this. The rule is that each sense has its own subject of recognition; it does not mean
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