Verse 2.642

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

नानापदार्थसंसर्गलक्षणोऽयं यतः स्मृतः ।
वाक्यार्थो वाक्यविद्भिर्हि प्रमावाक्यं च नो मतम् ।
तस्य चाविषयत्वात्तु ब्रह्मावाक्यार्थरूपभृत् ॥ ६४२ ॥

nānāpadārthasaṃsargalakṣaṇo'yaṃ yataḥ smṛtaḥ |
vākyārtho vākyavidbhirhi pramāvākyaṃ ca no matam |
tasya cāviṣayatvāttu brahmāvākyārtharūpabhṛt || 642 ||

English translation of verse 2.642:

“The sentence-sense, as understood by those who know the import.of a sentence, consists, indeed, in the relation among the different word-senses. We do hold that a (scriptural) sentence is the source of knowledge (of Brahman). But since Brahman doesnot fall within the scope of a sentence, it cannot be denoted by a sentence.”

Notes:

The Niyogavādin continues his argument in justification of the view that Brahman cannot be comprehended by śābda-jñāna. A sentence consists of a group of words. Each word in a sentence has its own sense; and the words combining with each other constitute a sentence. From the combination of words in a sentence there arises the sentence-sense (vākyārtha). A sentence will, therefore, convey only a related sense. Such being the nature of a sentence, Brahman, the non-dual, pure, undifferentiated consciousness, cannot be made known by the Upanisadic text. This does not, according to the Niyogavādin, deprive the Upanisadic text of its validity as a pramāṇa.

The Niyogavādin readily admits that the Upanisadic text is the pramāṇa for Brahman. At the same time he maintains that, the nature of Brahman being what it is, it cannot be made known by the Upanisadic text.