Sarvadarshanasangraha 2.93

2.93

That is untenable. In the absence of an external object, there is no understanding of it, and so the statement of comparison 'as if external' is unfounded. For no discerning person would say: 'Vasumitra appears like the son of a barren woman.' Moreover, it results in mutual dependence: if the appearance of difference is erroneous, the appearance of non-difference has epistemic validity; and if it has epistemic validity, the appearance of difference is erroneous. Furthermore, it is observed as an established fact in the world that people, experiencing blueness and the like, adopt only the external through non-discrepancy and disregard the internal. Thus, this reason meant to establish non-difference shares the semblance of a fallacious reason like the 'cow-dung-and-rice-pudding' maxim. Therefore, one who says 'as if external' must recognize that the external alone is apprehended; thus your own arrow strikes you back.