Nyāya Sūtras 147

As for what was said: “because even in eternal things there is treatment as if non-eternal,” no:

NyS 2.2.17: Because the causal substance is designated by the word “part.” ||17

[The opponent might say:] There is no deviation [from the rule] in eternal things as well. Thus, [in expressions such as] 'a region of space' and 'a region of the self', a material cause is not meant here with respect to space and the self, as it is with respect to a produced thing. For how could what does not exist be expressed? And its non-existence is due to non-apprehension through a means of valid cognition. What then is expressed there? The non-pervading occurrence of contact: contact of space with a delimited substance does not pervade space; it occurs without pervading it. That is its commonality with a produced substance. For contact between two myrobalan fruits does not pervade their substrate. And the metaphorical usage 'a region of space' is caused by this commonality. By this, 'a region of the self' is explained. And, just like contact, sound, cognition, and the rest have non-pervading occurrence. Furthermore, the intensity and faintness of sound has been examined [and shown] to be real in sound, not metaphorical.

[Objection:] Why, then, is no aphorism of the author of the aphorisms heard regarding this point? [Answer:] This is the custom of the venerable author of the aphorisms: in many topics he does not explicitly establish the two sides; he considers that in such cases one ought to understand the determination of reality from the established tenet of the treatise. And the established tenet of the treatise is inference branching in many directions, accepted and known under the name of reasoning. ||17