Sarvadarshanasangraha 10.50

10.50

[We reply:] Oh, what an error on the royal road! For mutual absence is a negation whose counterpositive is identity, as in: “A pot is not of the nature of cloth.” Absolute absence is a negation whose counterpositive is a relation, as in: “There is no relation of color in air.” Nor should it be suspected that this [category of absence] has no utility for the aims of human existence, for it is the supreme aim of human existence as the highest good, which is synonymous with the absolute eradication of pain.