Nyāya Sūtras 78.2

78.2

pramāṇaṃ prameyam iti ca samākhyā samāveśena varttate samākhyānimittavaśāt/ samākhyānimittaṃ tūpalabdhisādhanaṃ pramāṇam upalabdhiviṣayaś ca prameyam iti/ yadā ca upalabdhiviṣayaḥ kvacid upalabdhisādhanaṃ bhavati tadā pramāṇaṃ prameyam iti caiko 'rtho 'bhidhīyate/ asyārthasyāvadyotanārtham idam ucyate ---

And the designations 'means of valid cognition' and 'object of valid cognition' apply concurrently due to the occasion for the designation. The occasion for the designation, however, is that the means of apprehension is the means of valid cognition, and the object of apprehension is the object of valid cognition. And when the object of apprehension is somewhere the means of apprehension, then one and the same entity is referred to as 'means of valid cognition' and 'object of valid cognition'. To illuminate this point, this is said: