चमसवदविशेषात् ॥ ८ ॥
camasavadaviśeṣāt || 8 ||
camasavat—Like the bowl; aviśeṣāt—for want of special characteristics.
8. (The word ‘Aja’ cannot be asserted to mean the Pradhana) for want of special characteristics, as in the case of the bowl.
“There is one Aja, red, white, and black producing manifold offspring of the same appearance (colour)” (Svet. 4. 5).
The question is whether this ‘Aja’ refers to the Sankhya category Prakriti or to the fine elements fire, water, and earth. The Sankhyas hold that ‘Aja’ here means the Pradhana, the unborn; and red, white, and black refer to its three constituents, the Gunas—Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. This Sutra refutes this, saying that in the absence of special characteristics there is no’ basis for such a special assertion. The text can be interpreted otherwise also. “There is a bowl that has its opening below and bulging at the top” (Brih. 2 . 2 . 3). It is impossible to decide from the text itself what kind of bowl is meant. So also it is impossible to fix the meaning of ‘Aja’ from the text alone. As in the case of the bowl the complementary texts fix what kind of bowl is meant, so also here we have to refer this passage to supplementary scriptural texts to fix the meaning of ‘Aja’ and not assert that it means the Pradhana.