1442 Verse 2224

Original

एवं प्राग्नतया वृत्त्या प्रत्यग्वृत्तिसमर्पितम् ।
बुद्ध्यमानो मुखं भ्रान्त्या प्रत्यगित्यवगच्छति ॥ २२२४ ॥

evaṃ prāgnatayā vṛttyā pratyagvṛttisamarpitam |
buddhyamāno mukhaṃ bhrāntyā pratyagityavagacchati || 2224 ||

“Similarly (in the case of the man looking at the mirror), it is through illusion that the man cognises the face as facing the west, though in reality what he actually perceives is the pace as presented by the visual rays proceeding eastward to the rays proceeding westward.”—[Ślokavārtika—eternality of words, 189-190].—(2224)

Kamalaśīla

It has been argued (by some people, under Text 2220)—‘How could the man facing the East, come to face the West, when looking at the mirror?’

The Mīmāṃsaka’s answer to this is as follows:—[see verse 2224 above]

What happens is as follows:—First of all the Visual Rays, taking up the face-image, issue forth till they reach the mirror; these are spoken of as ‘proceeding eastward’;—on striking the mirror-space, the said rays are turned back and come back to the man’s face standing there as before; this is spoken of as ‘proceeding westward’,—the eastward rays thus present the face-image to the westward rays,—and these latter present it to the Soul (the observer); thereupon the Soul, cognising the image as presented by the westward rays, has the illusion that he is facing the West. The sense of all this is that the diversity of the functioning of the Eye is at the root of the illusion in question.—(2224)

Even granting that the Reflected Image is something different, produced in the reflecting medium, the Mīmāṃsaka, offers another explanation;—[see verse 2225 next]