|
Anavascha II.4.7 (276)
And (they are) minute.
Anavah: minute; Cha: and, also.
The nature and size of senses is now ascertained.
The author now considers the question of the nature and size of the
senses. Are these senses all-pervading or are they minute? The Purvapakshin
says that the senses are all-pervading, because we can hear sounds at
a distance and see objects far off. The Siddhanta view however is that
senses are atomic.
The word 'cha' has the force of certainty. It means that the senses
are not all-pervading but atomic. This Sutra refutes the doctrine of
the Sankhyas who maintain that the senses are all-pervading.
The organs are minute. Minute does not mean atomic, but subtle and limited
in size.
The organs must be subtle; for, if they are gross we could see them
when they go out of the body at the moment of death, as a snake comes
out of its hole. Had they been all-pervading like the ether, there would
have been no movement possible on their part, and the texts which speak
of their passing out of body and going and coming along with the soul
at death and birth would be contradicted. The soul cannot have them
as his essence.
It cannot be said that even if they are all-pervading they can have
a particular mode or function within the body, because it is that particular
mode or function which we call the sense or the instrument. Moreover,
we do not perceive through the senses what is happening throughout the
world. If they were all-pervading we will certainly perceive through
them what is happening throughout the world.
Therefore the senses are all subtle and finite, i.e., of limited size.
|
