सत्त्वं नाशित्वमस्याश्चेत्सकर्तृत्वं तथेष्यताम् । न कश्चिच्चेष्यते धर्म इति चेत्पक्षहानता ॥
sattvaṃ nāśitvamasyāścetsakartṛtvaṃ tatheṣyatām | na kaścicceṣyate dharma iti cetpakṣahānatā ||
If [you say] the being of this [cognition] is its perishing, then let it likewise be accepted that it has an agent. If [you say] no property at all is accepted [of it], then your position is lost.
यदि [तुम कहो कि] इस [ज्ञान] का होना ही उसका नष्ट होना है, तो उसी तरह उसका कर्ता वाला होना भी मान लो। यदि [कहो कि] कोई भी धर्म नहीं माना जाता, तो तुम्हारा पक्ष ही गिर जाता है।
Meaning today and contextआज के लिए अर्थ और संदर्भ
A technical step in the debate: a view that calls everything momentary still has to describe that momentariness, and so admits more than it wants to.
वाद का एक तकनीकी चरण: जो मत सबको क्षणिक कहता है, उसे भी उस क्षणिकता का वर्णन करना पड़ता है, और इस तरह वह अपनी इच्छा से अधिक मान लेता है।
Shankaracharya argues against the Buddhist idealist who holds that each cognition is momentary. If perishing is a property of cognition, then other properties, such as having an agent, must be admitted too; if no property at all is admitted, the Buddhist's own thesis falls.