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1392
TATTVASANGRAHA: CHAPTER XXVI.
PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN ASSERTED BY HIM AFTER FULL KNOWLEDGE, IT IS CLEAR THAT HE IS COGNISANT OF SUPERSENSUOUS THINGS THIS MUST BE ADMITTED BY OTHERS ALSO.-(3125–3127)
COMMENTARY.
* Tasya of the Perron..
Tatah'--the Person, its composer.
Tasmin in the Veda ;the Locative ending is in relation to the word 'Pramūnatu', 'Validity'.
Validity-capacity to make known supersensuous things in accordance with their true nature. --This has been said in referonce to the viow of the other party.
What is meant is as follows:- If you must insist upon the validity and reliability of the Veda,-then that validity must be due to the Person who composed it, and not to the Voda itself. This has been explained already. If this Author of the Veda is capable of perceiving suporsensuous things - then alone can reliability belong to him ; otherwise if the author were liable to wrong and doubtful cognitions, the Vede would be just like the utterances of mad and demented people, and honce entirely unreliable. Hence it follows that the Author of the Veda, whose oxistence has been proved in the chapter on The Revealed Word', must be regarded, at least by implication, to be one who is capable of perceiving kuperaensuous things. Hence there should be no denial of such an Author.
As a rule, men have their powers of perception beset with defects like Love and Hate, and hence they are unable to perceive supersensuous things ; having realised this truth, people lose all hope of establishing the validity of scriptures composed by such men; so when one seels to obtain the knowledge of what is Dharma and what is Adharma, he will rely upon the reliability of the Veda,just like the bird which is unable to perceive the shore.
With this idea, the Mimämsakas, being devoid of all excellent qualities (+), deny the existence of the Person cognisant of supersensuous things; their argnment being as follows:-"All men being beset with Love and Hatred, etc. as also by Ignorance, and not knowing how to get rid of these, they become confused; hence there can be no Person who is capable of perceiving supersensuous things; consequently, Dharma can be known only through the Veda, not through the senses ; as it is the Veda only which can make known thinge past, present and future, subtle and remote and nenr, not so the Sense-organ or any other Means of Cognition' (Shabara-Blāsya). In support of this view, they put forward the following reasoning: A thing that falls within the scope of the Means of Cognition known as Non-apprehension, which consists in the absence of the five means of Cognition (Senseperception and the rest), can be regarded by the wise only as non-existent ; c.g. the sky-lotus', -the omniscient Person falls within the scope of the said Non-apprehension; hence this is a Reason based upon the nature of things; the Probandum consisting of capability of being used and regarded. As for the negation of this, it oan be cognised by Non-apprehension' only ". -(3125-3127)
