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EXAMINATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF SELF-SUFFICIENT VALIDITY'. 1341
he may not be cognisant with the fact of its being in conformity with effective action, and yot, in course of time, he would become assured of the perfection of the source of the Cognition, and then secure certainty regarding its validity'. But this cannot be right. Because things being momentary and perishable, thoir activity cannot be always of one and the same form ; because, as the result of the influence of a succession of causal conditions, they would be acquiring diverse potencies."
Anticipating all this, the Author supplies the following answer
TEXTS (2991–2993).
IN REGARD TO THE CONCH-SHELL BEFORE OUR EYES, WHEN IT IS FOUND
THAT THE EFFECTIVE ACTION RESULTING FROM ITS COGNITION IS ONE THAT CAN BE PRODUCED BY THE white object, IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE COGNITION OF THE white CONCH-SHELL IS NOT ONE PRODUCED BY EYES AFFECTED BY JAUNDICE. THE PURITY (PERFECTION) OF THE CAUSE HAVING BEOOME THUS RECOGNISED, IF, AT THE SAME TIME, THERE SHOULD ARISE THE COGNITION OF THE yellow COLOUR IN CONNEOTION WITH THE CON CH-SHELL MADE OF GOLD, --AS THAT ALSO WOULD HAVE BEEN BROUGHT ABOUT BY FLAWLESS CAUSES, THERE WOULD BE CERTAINTY REGARDING THE VALIDITY OF THAT COGNITION, JUST AS IN THAT OF THE COGNITION OF THE white COLOUR IN CONNECTION WITH THE WHITE CONCH-SHELL, WHICH HAS LED TO EFFECTIVE ACTION.-(2991-2993)
COMMENTARY.
What is meant by this is as follows:-We do not mean that, in the case of the Cognition of the remote object, appearing at some other time,its validity is ascertained through the perfection of its source ;--if this were our opinion, then alone could our Reason be inadmissible, on account of the possibility of fresh potencies appearing under the influence of successive causal conditions ;-what we do mean is that, in the case of the Cognition of the white conch-shell near us, at the same time that we have the certainty regarding the flawlessness of the cause brought about by the securing of the effect due to the white colour, there appears the Cognition of the yellow colour in the golden conch-shell lying far away from us, it is concluded that as the perceptive cause has been found to be flawless, the said Cognition of the yellow colour must be valid, true. It is not possible that the source of Cognition should have become changed at the same time; as in that case, there would be no conformity of the Cognition of the proximate object with effective action.-(2991-2993)
The following Text proceeds to show that what has been just said should be quite acceptable to the Mimamsakas :
