(representing it), and would thus by itself be excluded; but the text
adds this specification (viz. 'at the present moment') on purpose, in
order to intimate that a past state of consciousness can be represented
by another state--a point denied by the opponent. 'At the present
moment' means 'the connexion with the object of knowledge belonging to
the present time.' Without the addition of 'to its own substrate' the
definition might imply that a state of consciousness is manifest to
another person also; to exclude this the clause is added. This first
definition might be objected to as acceptable only to those who maintain
the svayamprakasatva-theory (which need not be discussed here); hence a
second definition is given. The two clauses 'to its own substrate' and
'at the present moment' have to be supplied in this second definition
also. 'Instrumental in bringing about' would apply to staffs, wheels,
and such like implements also; hence the text adds 'its own object.'
(Staffs, wheels, &c. have no 'objects.') Knowledge depending on sight
does not bring about an object depending on hearing; to exclude this
notion of universal instrumentality the text specifies the object by the
words 'its own.' The clause 'through its own being' excludes the sense
organs, which reveal objects not by their own being, but in so far as
they give rise to knowledge. The two clauses 'at the present moment' and
'to its own substrate' have the same office in the second definition as
in the first.]




Consciousness is not eternal.

It was further maintained by the purvapakshin that as consciousness is
self-established it has no antecedent non-existence and so on, and that