0329 Verse 417

Original

अथ नाङगीक्रियेतेदं वस्तुत्वं शक्तिलक्षणम् ।
येदवमन्यन्निर्दिश्यं वस्तूनां लक्षणं परैः ॥ ४१७ ॥

atha nāṅagīkriyetedaṃ vastutvaṃ śaktilakṣaṇam |
yedavamanyannirdiśyaṃ vastūnāṃ lakṣaṇaṃ paraiḥ || 417 ||

If, then, capacity (for fruitful action) be not admitted to be the characteristic feature of the ‘entity’,—then, under the circumstances, it behoves the other party to point out some other characteristic feature of ‘entities’.—(417)

Kamalaśīla

It might be argued that—“If capacity for effective action were the characteristic feature of entities, then alone all this would be very well—In that ease it should be explained what their characteristic feature is. As a matter of fact, when it is said that the ‘Hare’s Horn’ and such thing are ‘nonentities’, this idea is based entirely upon the absence in them of the capacity for effective action. Then, inasmuch as ‘entity’ and ‘non-entity’ are mutually exclusive, it follows, by implication, that the characteristic feature of ‘entity’, as distinguished from ‘non-entity’, consists in its capacity for effective action.—(417)

The following Text anticipates the opponent’s answer to the above:—[see verse 418 next]