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.

The advaitins support their nirguNa concept ofbrahman on the ground that He is avAchya i.e.

not conveyed by any word. The words convey

an entity on the basis of its attributes. The

attributes are technically known as

pravR^ittinimitta i.e. shabdapravR^ittinimitta.

Since brahman has no attributes, no word can

convey Him. Therefore, He is

sarvashabdAvAchya. Consequently, He cannot

be stated to be anantaguNa and

anantashabdavAchya. This contention of the

advaitin is refuted by thenyAyAmR^itakaNtakoddhAra:

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()The concept of avAchyatva cannot be

maintained for the following reasons:

(1) If the very expression sarvashabdAvAchya

denotes brahman primarily, then the

sarvashabdAvAchyatva concept has no legs to

stand upon. The view that it conveys brahman

secondarily is not tenable, as there is not other

mukhyArtha of it:

(2) If th expressions nirvisheshha, svaprakAsha,

etc., convey their import as vAchyArtha, thenthe concept of avAchyatva is given up. These

cannot convey mukhyArtha i.e. vAchyArtha for

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these expressions. Therefore, vAchyatva of

brahman cannot be avoided:

(3) If the very expression laxya conveys its

import as vAchyArtha, then the concept of

avAchyatva is given up. If it is conveyed as

laxyArtha, then its very laxyatva is given up. A

word that conveys a laxyArtha cannot be byitself a laxya. Ity is only a vAchaka word:

The advaitin tries to argue that the words

avAchya and laxya can have laxyArtha without

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vAchyArtha, since these are samasta and

yaugika words respectively and have the status

of sentence. The advaitin claims the sentencehas no vAchyArtha of its own, but still conveys

its import. Therefore, these words can convey

brahman without being the vAchyArtha of these

words. This contention is not tenable, because

according to anvitAbhidhAnavAda, the sentence

meaning also is vAchyArtha:

()After refuting the avAchyatva of brahman, the

nyAyAmR^ita gives the grounds to establish

vAchyatva as under:

(1)

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(2)

(3) (a)

(b)

(c)

These passages that are frequently quoted by theadvaitins in support of avAchyatva viz. yato

vAcho nivartante ashabdasparsham, etc., do not

support avAchyatva. These only indicate that

brahman being Infinite cannot be pinpointed as

limited as ' this ' either in thought or words or in

reason. He is beyond such limited expressions.The meru mountain though seen is dscribed as

beyond sight because of its vastness:

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Therefore, brahman is

yaugikAnantavaidikashabdavAchyam.