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1018
TATTVASANGRAHA : CHAPTER XXIV.
TEXT (2160).
IN AS MUCH AS SOUND EXISTS AS A WHOLE PERVADING OVER THE ENTIRE Akiisha, IT COULD NOT BE COGNISED AS A WHOLE, IF IT WERE
EMBELLISHED IN PART.-(2160)
COMMENTARY
As a matter of fact, the Word-Sound pervndes over the entire Akasha ; and hence the whole of it could not be cognisod if it were embellished only in part.-(2160)
The Mimāmsaka's Opponent now sets forth objections against the view that the embellishment pertains to the Sense-organ [the second alternative view suggested under Texts 2156-2157, regarding the variations of Sound being due to embellishments, in the shape of the conjunctions and disjune. tions of Sound)
TEXTS (2161-2162). UNDER THE VIEW THAT THE AUDITORY ORGAN CONSISTS OF Akäsha, AS THE ORGAN WOULD BE ALL-PERVADING, IT WOULD BE EQUALLY IN CONTACT WITH ALL THINGS; SO THAT EVEN WHEN THE SOUND IS PRODUCED FAR OFF, IT SHOULD BE HEARD HERE.-IN THIS WAY THE AUDITORY ORGAN ALSO WOULD BE ONE ONLY FOR ALL LIVING BEINGS; HENCE AT THE TIME THAT ONE PERSON HEARS A SOUND, ALL MEN
SHOULD HEAR IT.-(2161-2162)
COMMENTARY
There are some people who hold that the Auditory Organ consists of Akasha ; under this view, as Aleasha is one and all-pervading, it would be in equal contact with all Sounds, and hence it should be possible to hear Sounds at a distance also.-The Auditory Organ also would be one and the same for all living beings; hence when one of them hers a sound, that sound should be heard by all of them ; because the Auditory Organ is one and the same for all. It should be added also that if one man does not hear a Sound, no man should hear it.-(2161-2162)
The following might be urged–The Auditory Organ consists of Alisha as conditioned by the tympanum embellished by Merit and Demerit; hence as the sound heard would be subsisting in the Aläsha as contained in the tympanum,-thero would be no room for the two undesirablo contingencies just pointed out-viz. : (a) that being all-pervading, the Organ would be in equal contact with all Sounds, and (b) that there wonld be one and the same Organ for all living beings.
The answer to this is as follows: