Text 10.41

क्रमेणोदाहरणम्,

krameṇodāharaṇam,

Examples are shown in order. [This illustrates niścaya-garbha sandeha (a doubt in the beginning, certainty in the middle, and a doubt in the end):]

meghaḥ kim eṣa sa kathaṃ dharaṇau kim asmiṃś candro’yam asya vigataḥ kva nu vā kalaṅkaḥ |
mālā kim atra taḍitaḥ sthiratā kva cāsyāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ kim eṣa sumukhaḥ sakhi pīta-vāsāḥ ||

meghaḥ—a cloud; kim—whether; eṣaḥ—this (Śyāmasundara); saḥ—He; katham—how; dharaṇau—on the earth; kim—whether; asmin—in this object; candraḥ—moon; ayam—well-known; asya—of this object; vigataḥ—has gone; kva—where?; nu—indeed; vā—at all; kalaṅkaḥ—the spot; mālā—a chain; kim—whether; atra—on this; taḍitaḥ—of lightning; sthiratā—motionlessness; kva—when; ca—and; asyāḥ—its (the chain of lightning’s); kṛṣṇaḥ—Kṛṣṇa; kim—whether; eṣaḥ—this person; su-mukhaḥ—beautiful-faced; sakhi—O friend; pīta-vāsāḥ—He whose clothes are yellow.

Is this a cloud? Then why is it on the earth? Is the thing on it the moon? If so, where are its spots? Is that a huge lightning flash on the lower half of it? Then again, has a lightning flash ever been motionless? O sakhī, is this beautiful Kṛṣṇa, who wears a yellow garment? (Alaṅkāra-kaustubha 8.64)

atrādy-antayoḥ saṃśayaḥ. madhye meghādy-abhāva-niścayaḥ, kṛṣṇa-niścaye dvitīyasyotthānāsambhavāt.

In this example, there is a doubt in the beginning and at the end. In between them, there is the certainty that He is not a cloud and so on because when there is certainty about Kṛṣṇa, the existence of a second entity cannot possibly arise (the certainty is expressed with the denial of similarity).