Essay name: Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra (study)
Author:
Nimisha Sarma
Affiliation: Gauhati University / Department of Sanskrit
This is an English study of the Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra: a significant work of the syncretic Nyaya-Vaisesika school of Indian philosophy widely used as a beginner's textbook in southern India and has many commentaries. This study includes an extensive overview of the Nyaya and Vaisesika philosophy, epistemology and sources of valid knowledge. It further deals with the contents and commentaries of the Tarkabhasa.
Chapter 5 - Uttarabhaga of Tarkabhasa: Contents
48 (of 64)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
208
Vaise峁ka view: According to Vaise峁ka, liberation comes through
knowledge. When action stops, new merits and demerits do not get
accumulated and old merits and demerits also are gradually worn out. The soul
is separated from the fetters of the mind and the body and realizes its own pure
nature. That is liberation which is absolute cessation of all pain. In liberation
qualities can not exist because the soul here is not connected with the mind
and the body. It is a cessation of all life, all consciousness, all bliss, together
with all pain and all qualities. According to Kan膩da, man must work out his
own salvation. It is given to him, if he will, to hear the Truth from the
Scriptures or from a preceptor. on high or hear below, to think over it in his
mind. and to meditate upon it in the recesses of his heart. He can control his
sensory and motor organs.
126 Nyaya view: Release is the absolute deliverance from pain.
127 "This condition of immortality, free from fear, imperishable, consisting in the
128 attainment of bliss, is called Brahma.鈥� Mok峁 is supreme felicity marked by
perfect tranquility and freedom from defilement. It is not the destruction of
self but only of bondage. Uddyotakara urges that if the released soul is to have
everlasting pleasure. it must also have an everlasting body, since experiencing
is not possible without the bodily mechanism. Annambhatta says that
126. SBH. Vol. VI. p. 2.
129 127. tadatyantavimok峁岣� "apavargah鈥�. NS. 1.1.22.
128. tad abhayamajaramam峁泃yupada峁� brahma k峁mapr膩ptiriti. VB. under
ibid.
129. NV. 1.1.22. also in VB. 4.1.58.
