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TATTVASANGRAHA: CHAPTER XXVI.
Afflictions have not been destroyed, then there would be no room for the appearance of the notion of 'No-soul'; as a matter of fact, however, it is a fact of common experience that the notion of 'No-soul presents itself before all men; and when this same notion is pondered over, it reaches to high stages, - just like the conception of a young woman, and subsequently becomes quite clearly perceptible, and ultimately reaches the stage of direct perception,
- as envisaging a directly perceived thing; how then can it be impossible for the notion of 'no-soul to appear in the mind of men ?
Then again, in a place wrapped in darkness, there is possibility of light appearing after some time;-30 here also why should not there be the possibility of the appearance of the notion of 'No-soul'?
It cannot be said that "the said conception of 'No-soul' cannot appear in any man which could lead to the appearance of the perceptional Cogni. tion". Because, the reason has to be pointed out why this is not possible.
For instance, what would be the reason for no use being made of the said conception? Would it lie in the fact of no one wanting it, and all activity of sane men being accompanied by some desire 1-Or, even if they desire it, the sane man does not have recourse to activity, because he has no knowledge of what has got to be avoided, and unless a Defect is known, it cannot be avoided.-Or, even though he knows the Defect, the man knows that the Defect is permanent and hence does not put forth any effort to remove it, because what is permanent cannot be removed.--Or, even if the Defects are not permanent, one recognises the fact of their having no cause and desists from any activity towards their removal because what is selfsufficient can never be set aside.-Or, even though they have causes, there is no certain knowledge of such causes, and hence one does not pay any heed to the said conception,-because, as in the case of disease, it could not be removed until its cause were definitely ascertained - Or, even if their cause is known, is it that the intelligent man knows that cause to be eternal and hence does not dare to try to remove it, because if the cause is present in its efficient condition, the effect cannot be restrained 2-Or even though the cause is non-eternal, the man, seeing that Defects are inherent in all living beings, does not make an attempt to remove them,--because what forms the very nature of the thing cannot be set aside.- Or, if the Defects do not form part of the nature of the beings, the man desists because there are no means of removing them,-because unless the means is there, the end cannot be attained ;-or, even if the means are there, its use would be impossible, because the man does not know them,-because what is not known cannot be used. Or even though he knows the means, he does not employ them because he considers it impossible for the conception to reach-by jumping as it were,--the highest stage, on account of there being no re-birth, and hence the conception would continue to remain at the same stage at which it has already reached.-Or even granting that the conception does reach the highest stage, and by this appearance of their contrary, the Defects become destroyed; but even so, he thinks that, like the solidity of Copper and other metals, it may be that the Defects are bound to appear again and hence he does not try to remove them?
