1722 Verse 2727

Original

अथ वर्णास्तिरोभूतव्यक्तयो विदिताः पुरा ।
स्मर्यन्तेऽवस्थिता एव न स्पष्टाभप्रसङ्गतः ॥ २७२७ ॥

atha varṇāstirobhūtavyaktayo viditāḥ purā |
smaryante’vasthitā eva na spaṣṭābhaprasaṅgataḥ || 2727 ||

If it is argued that—“the previously cognised letters have only their appearance concealed, but when remembered, they are there all right”,—then, the answer is that—it cannot be so; as, if it were so, then there would be a clear idea of them.—(2727)

Kamalaśīla

Says the Opponent:—“It is true according to the Mīmāṃsakas also; because under their view, the Letters are not destroyed; hence there is nothing to prevent their figuring in the cognition; it is only that their appearance has become concealed; they are there all the same”.

This is what is anticipated in the first part of the following Text, and answered by the last part beginning with ‘It cannot be so’:—[see verse 2727 above]

If the same Letters that had been heard before are lying with their appearance concealed, and are subsequently apprehended by the cumulative cognition, then like their own cognition, the cumulative cognition also should apprehend them quite distinctly; as the form is exterior to the cognition and it is of one and the same form.—Further, if they have their appearance concealed, how can they appear? Because ‘appearance’ is of the nature of apprehension.—(2727)