अशून्यापेक्षया शून्यशब्दार्थपरिकल्पना । अशून्यत्वात् संभवतः शून्यताशून्यते कुतः ॥ १४ ॥
aśūnyāpēkṣayā śūnyaśabdārthaparikalpanā | aśūnyatvāt saṁbhavataḥ śūnyatāśūnyatē kutaḥ || 14 ||
Translation
The meaning of the word "void" is imagined in relation to the not-void; and the not-void, in turn, arises in relation: so whence voidness and non-voidness?
Word by word
- aśūnya
- the not-void
- apēkṣayā
- in relation to
- śūnya
- void
- śabda
- of the word
- artha
- of the meaning
- parikalpanā
- the imagining
- aśūnyatvāt
- from the not-void
- saṁbhavataḥ
- arising
- śūnyatā
- voidness
- aśūnyatē
- and non-voidness
- kutaḥ
- whence
Meaning
Someone may ask: if it is not void, why speak of it in negatives, "it does not rise, it does not subside"? The commentary answers that "void" and "not void" are notions that depend on one another. One first imagines something present (the counterpart, pratiyogin, whose absence is spoken of) and, relative to it, imagines its absence elsewhere; then, relative to that imagined absence, imagines presence. If there were only one thing, void alone or full alone, neither notion could arise. How then can such voidness or non-voidness belong to That, which has no second to be compared with? The negatives of the last sarga were not saying that it is void; they were removing every notion that needs a second thing.