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Studies in Indian Philosophy
objects of eye perception), then it could be possible for the operation of the eye to be otherwise established. But when at midday, the shadow of a bird moving in the middle of the sky is seen to be moving by a person moving on the earth with his head bent downwards, it is only the movement of the chaya that becomes the object of the operation of the sense-organ, and the movement of the bird is just inferred, and so there is not even the slightest chance of the operation of the senseorgan being otherwise established, for the bird is not seen at all by the eye."
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Moreover if it were already proved that shadow is of the nature of negation, then movement would not be possible in its case and so it would be proper to say that the functioning of the sense-organ in respect of it could be otherwise established. But that is still something frowned upon by fortune (daiva-kaṭākṣita). And if it is argued that the movement of the chaya is something that has come to happen thanks to superimposition, then when a maidservant with a pot on her head is walking, it is the movement of the maid-servant that appears in the jar due to superimposition and the jar should be then devoid of action (or movement). And if it is urged that it too is seen to be moving and so cannot be motionless, then it should be understood that the same argument holds good in the case of chaya also. Further, there is no inference contradicting movement in chaya, unlike the case where there certainly is inference contradicting blueness in the sky.
It may be argued that the fact of its being of the nature of negation is itself contrary to its havihg motion. But this is not proper for this argument suffers from the fault of mutual dependence. If its being of the nature of negation is established, contradiction of its having movement could be established, and if the latter is established could its being of the nature of negation be established. And even if movement is admitted as something superimposed on it, still from this only it follows that chaya is positive in character and this cannot be denied.
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