Verses on Sāṃkhya 11

He states the definition of the instruments of knowledge, perception and the rest:

Perception is the decisive cognition of each respective object; inference is declared to be of three kinds,
and it is preceded by a mark and that which bears the mark; and reliable testimony is authoritative revelation. //

"Empirical [perception] is the determinate cognition of each sense object," etc. "Of each sense object" means directed to each individual sense object; determinate cognition directed to each individual sense object is "determinate cognition of each sense object." The sense objects are sound and the rest; determinate cognition is the intellect. That intellect which arises—having as its chief function the ascertainment of particulars through the gates of the senses of hearing, skin, eye, tongue, and nose respectively in regard to sound, touch, form, taste, and smell—is empirical [perception]. Because of purity it is a means of knowledge; because of impurity it is not a means of knowledge. And it is of four kinds: with designation, conceptual, lacking an object, and lacking an organ. Among these, having seen someone arriving from afar, one designates a similarity to Devadatta, thinking, "This is Devadatta"; that intellect which arises is conceptual, and because it is doubtful, it is not a means of knowledge. The seeing of two moons by one with a cataract lacks an object, because there is no second moon. What is seen in a dream lacks an organ, because the senses are overwhelmed by sleep.

"Inference is declared to be threefold." It is explained in the Ṣaṣṭitantra as: having the antecedent (pūrvavat), having the remainder (śeṣavat), and observed from commonality (sāmānyatodṛṣṭa). Entities are threefold: past, future, and present. Among them, inference having the antecedent serves to establish a future state of affairs: it "has an antecedent" because it has an antecedent sign. As, having seen an elevated cloud, one infers that rain will occur. To establish a past state of affairs is [inference] having the remainder: it has the remainder as its sign. As, rain has occurred higher up this river, of which turbid water is the remaining sign. To establish a present state of affairs is [inference] observed from commonality: because sign and bearer of the sign are observed through commonality. As Devadatta's arrival in another place is observed to be preceded by movement, so the movement of the sun and the rest is inferred by the arrival in another place through commonality.

"It is preceded by a sign and that which bears the sign." The threefold inference is observed in common experience sometimes to be preceded by the sign and sometimes to be preceded by that which bears the sign. For example, sometimes a cuckoo is inferred by its melodious song, and sometimes, having seen the cuckoo, the bearer of the sign, [one infers] that it must have a melodious song as well; thus their reciprocal relation of signifier and signified holds when a relation exists. And the relations are seven. Among them, the relation of owner and property is as between a king and his servant: sometimes the king [is inferred] by the servant, or the servant by the king. Likewise, the relation of material cause and modification is as between barley and barley-flour. The relation of cause and effect is as between a cow and a calf. The relation of vessel and user of the vessel is as between a wandering ascetic and his triple staff. The relation of companionship is as between two cakravāka birds. The relation of opposites is as between cold and heat: there, upon the existence of one, the non-existence of the other is recognized. The relation of motive and motivated is as between the meal and the eater. By these relations, the threefold inference as a means of knowledge is not undermined.

"And authoritative revelation is authoritative statement." An authoritative person is one whose faults have diminished. And as they say: / "One who is committed to his own duty, free from attachment and aversion, / devoid of hostility, and revered by the virtuous—such a one is to be known as authoritative."

The revelation that has arrived through a lineage of transmission from authoritative persons is authoritative statement; an object seen or inferred by them is taught through speech in order to generate in another a cognition resembling one's own cognition. Any statement other than that does not hold authority. The word "and" is meant to declare equal status with inference: just as inference is not restricted to a single time, so too is authoritative statement. // 5