1143 Verse 1649

Original

प्रत्यक्षादेरनुत्पत्तिः प्रमाणाभाव इष्यते ।
साऽऽत्मनोऽपरिणामो वा विज्ञानं वाऽन्यवस्तुनि ॥ १६४९ ॥

pratyakṣāderanutpattiḥ pramāṇābhāva iṣyate |
sā’’tmano’pariṇāmo vā vijñānaṃ vā’nyavastuni || 1649 ||

“What is regarded to be ‘negation, a means of cognition’, is the non-functioning of perception and the other means of cognition; this may consist either in ‘the non-modification of the soul’, or in the cognition of another object.”—[Ślokavārtika-negation, 11],—(1649)

Kamalaśīla

What is regarded to be ‘Negation, a Means of Cognition’ is the non-functioning of Perception and the other Means of Cognition.

The term ‘pramāṇabhāva’ may be taken either as the Genitive—Tatpuruṣa Compound, or as the Kārmadhāraya.

In some places the reading is ‘pramāṇe-abhavaḥ’, in which the meaning of the Locative ending would be ‘among Pramāṇas’,—the singular number in ‘pramāṇe’ being due to all Pramāṇas being referred to as a class.

Thus has Śabarasvāmin declared (under Sū. 1. 1. 5)—‘Negation consists in the absence of the Means of Cognition and it gives rise to the notion of a certain unseen object not existing’.

Question—“What is this non-functioning (of the Means of Cognition)?”

Answer:—‘This may consist, etc. etc.’—This—i.e. the non-functioning of Perception and the rest,—may be said to consist in the Soul in a state of rest, not becoming modified into the form of the cognition of the Jar or any such thing which may be meant to be denied;—or it may consist in the cognition of the spot on the ground as devoid of the said Jar, etc.—”(1649)