Verse 2.616

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

अपि मानान्तरप्राप्तं वस्तुवृत्तं निवर्तयेत् ।
नियोगार्थानुरोधेन यदि वस्त्ववबोध्यते ॥ ६१६ ॥

api mānāntaraprāptaṃ vastuvṛttaṃ nivartayet |
niyogārthānurodhena yadi vastvavabodhyate || 616 ||

English translation of verse 2.616:

If the Self is made known (by śruti texts like tat tvam asi) by being subservient to the meaning of an injunction, then what is known through another pramāṇa (like perception) will set aside the information about the Self (conveyed by śruti texts like tat tvam asi).

Notes:

There are existential or assertive statements (siddhārtha-bodhakavākya) like tat tvam asi which reveal the nature of the existent Brahman-Ātman. The Mīmāṃsakas argue that assertive statements are valid only if they are construed as subsidiary to the injunctive texts (vidhivākya) like, “The Self, verily, should be seen” (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, IV, v, 6). According to them, assertive statements like satyaṃ jñānaṃ anantam brahma, tat tvam asi, etc., provide information about the Self called for by the injunctive texts. So these have validity only when they are construed along with the injunctive texts.

This line of reasoning will not really help the Mīmāṃsakas to vindicate the need of injunction for obtaining the knowledge of Brahman. If we admit their view of the relation between assertive and injunctive texts, what the assertive texts convey regarding the nature of Brahman will have to be set aside when it comes into conflict with the evidence of perception and other pramāṇas, for the assertive texts are subsidiary to the injunctive texts, and the latter have their purport in what is to be accomplished (sādhya) and not in revealing the nature of the existent reality, viz., Brahman.