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"THE REVEALED WORD."
1105
TEXTS (2359-2361).
IT MIGHT BE SAID THAT "THE VEDA BY ITSELF, INDEPENDENT OF ANY
PERSONALITIES, STANDS CAPABLE OF BRINGING ABOUT THE TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF THINGS, AND IT IS ON THAT GROUND THAT IT IS REGARDED AS TRUTHFUL AND RELIABLE".IF THAT IS SO, THAT KNOWLEDGE SHOULD BE APPEARING INCESSANTLY,-BECAUSE ITS CAUSE IS ALWAYS THERE, -AS AT THE MOMENT INTENDED.-OR AT THE TIME THAT ONE COGNITION APPEARS, ALL COGNITIONS PROVIDED BY THE VEDA SHOULD APPEAR SIMULTANEOUSLY, BECAUSE IT IS AN EFFICIENT CAUSE,-AS IN THE CASE OF THE INTENDED COGNITION.
(2359-2361)
COMMENTARY.
The following might be urged"If we had regarded the Veda as truthful by reason of the presence of Mercy and such other excellences in its author, then, as the excellences would be resting in the Person, when this person would cease to exist, the excellences would disappear, and thence the truthfulness based upon the excellences would also disappear. As a matter of fact, however, it is by its very nature that the Veda is the source of knowledge of real things, and this capacity of the Veda is not due to any excellences in any Person : hence there can be no 'inconclusiveness' in our Reason. Nor is there any possibility of the Veda being meaningless".
Anticipating this argument of the Mimümanka, the Author says- Y that is so, etc. etc. '-Just as, it is by its very nature that the Veda has a meaning-in the same way it might be possible that it is false ; so that the Reason still remains Inconclusive. This is going to be further explained later on.
If the Veda were the source of knowledge, by its very nature, then the cognitions provided by it should appear at all times and all simultaneously, as their efficient cause would be there always. How then can the con. tingency of boing meaningless be avoided ?
The argument may be formulated as follows:-When the efficient cause of a certain thing is there, that thing must come about,-e.g. the cognition of the Agnihotra provided by the Vedic sentences ;-the efficient cause, in the shape of Veda, of all cognitions arising from the Vedic sentences, is always present; hence this is a Reason based upon the nature of things. (2359-2361)
The Author next points out another objection against the idea of cognitions appearing simultaneously :