Verse 2.146

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

असतः कारणं नास्ति सतोऽनतिशयत्वतः ।
कौटस्थ्याज्जन्मनाशानामनवस्था जनेर्जनौ ॥ १४६ ॥

asataḥ kāraṇaṃ nāsti sato'natiśayatvataḥ |
kauṭasthyājjanmanāśānāmanavasthā janerjanau || 146 ||

English translation of verse 2.146:

For the non-existent, there is no cause. For the existent there is no new state (as origination). Since origination, destruction, etc., (do not have origination, destruction, etc.), and since they are (for that reason) immutable, (creation is not real). If there is origination for origination, it will result in infinite regress.

Notes:

That creation of the world is not real is now argued in a different way. The world must have been existent or non-existent as such before its origination. It cannot be said that what is non-existent (asat) comes into being. The non-existent, just because it is non-existent, cannot have relation with cause. In the absence of its relation with cause, how could it be said that what is non-existent comes into being? Nor is it possible to say that what is existent (sat) comes into being. Since it is already an existent, it cannot have origination. If neither the existent nor the non-existent comes into being, to speak of the creation of the world does not make any sense.

The question of the creation of the world may be examined from another point of view. The things of the world are subject to the sixfold change (ṣaḍ-bhāva-vikāra) such as origination (janma), destruction (nāśa), etc. Is there origination for origination? Is there destruction for destruction? The admission of origination for origination, destruction for destruction, involves the fallacy of infinite regress (anavasthā). If there is no origination for origination, destruction for destruction, etc., it must be said that they are immutable. We proceed on the assumption that there is the sixfold change, though in truth it is illusory (bhāvavikārāssarve'pi kalpitā eveti paramārthaḥ).