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Nirvikalpaka Pratyaksha (study)

by Sujit Roy | 2013 | 40,056 words

This essay studies Nirvikalpaka Pratyaksha or “Indeterminate perception� primarily based on Nyaya Philosophy and Bauddha philosophy. Pratyaksa is that cognition which is produced by the contact of a sense organ with an object. It is a direct cognition of reality which is not derived through the medium or instrumentality of any other cognition....

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Chapter 5g - Nirvikalpaka ʰٲⲹṣa according to ܳ ṭṭ

ܳ ṭṭ, the founder of the ṭṭ school of īṃs, says,

samyagarthe ca sa� śabdo duṣprayoganivāraṇa�.�[1]

It means that the right intercourse is the intercourse of the sense-organs untainted by defects with real objects.

Illusions are produced by wrong intercourse. Therefore, according to him, ٲⲹṣa is a direct cognition which is the result of the right functioning of the sense-organ with reference to their objects, and which is free from defects.[2] īṃs broadly agrees with in its view of ٲⲹṣa. The self comes into contact with manas, the internal organ, which comes into contact with the sense-organs, which have right intercourse with real external objects. The olfactory, the gustatory, the visual, the tactual, and the auditory organ, composed of earth, water, light, air, and space or ether, are the external organs. The ⾱첹 regards the auditory organ as ether limited by the ear-hole, while the īṃs첹 regards it as space limited by the ear-hole. The external sense-organs can produce perceptions of odour, taste, colour, sound, etc., when they are supervised by the manas, which is the organ of internal ٲⲹṣa. It is the organ of the ٲⲹṣa of cognition, pleasure, pain, desire, etc., which are the qualities of the self. The sense-object intercourse has the capacity to manifest a sensible object. ʰٲⲹṣa can apprehend sensible objects only, but it cannot apprehend super-sensible objects like dharma.[3]

The latter ṭṭs i.e., ⲹṇa ṭṭ (16th century A.D) in his Mānameyodaya defines ٲⲹṣa as:

ԻⲹԲԾ첹ṣaᲹ� ṇa� ٲⲹṣam[4]

I.e. ٲⲹṣa is the valid cognition produced by the contact of a sense-organ with an object.

The ṭṭ School accepts ٲⲹṣa is of two stages, viz., nirvikalpaka and savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa. Of these the first stage is called nirvikalpaka and the second stage is called savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa. The nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa of a thing is its perception at the first moment of the association of the senses and their objects.

Thus ܳ defines nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa as:

asti dzԲ� ñԲ� ٳ󲹳� nirvikalpakam. bālamūkādivijñāna-ṛśa� suddhavastujam. na viśeṣo na 峾Բⲹ� tadānīm anubhūyate. tayor ādhārabhūtā tu vyaktirevāvasīyate.�[5]

It means that the cognition that appears first is a mere dzԲ or simple ٲⲹṣa, called nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa pertaining to the object itself pure and simple, and resembling the cognitions that the new-born infant has of things around himself. In this cognition neither the specific characters nor the generic characters are apprehended by it, but the individual object only, which is their substrate, is apprehended.

ٳ󲹲ٳ Ѿś (900 A.D) defines nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa as:

avivikta-峾Բⲹ-viśeṣavibhāga� saṃmugdha-vastu-ٰ-gocaram dzԲ-jñānam[6]

I.e. nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa is a non-relational apprehension of an object only with its generic and specific characters, which cannot distinguish them from one another. It cannot apprehend the generic characters as generic and the specific characters as specific. It apprehends an object with its various properties, viz., genus, quality, and name etc. unrelated to each other just after the senseobject intercourse. It apprehends a multiform object with its various properties in a nonrelational manner. There is no apprehension of a subject-predicate relation in it.[7]

On the other hand, ⲹṇa ṭṭ defines nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa as:

indriyasannikarṣānantarameva dravyādi-svarūpaٰvagāhi śabdānugamasūnyam jat sammugdhañԲ� jāyate tat viśiṣṭakalpanābhāvāt nirvirkalpakamityucyate.�[8]

It means that the immediately after the contact with the senses, there arises a confused cognition devoid of verbal accompaniment, and comprehending the bare existence of substances etc., and this is called nirvikalpaka, because of the nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa of a thing as qualified.

ṭṭ īṃs accepts that nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa leads to the second stage of ٲⲹṣa i.e. to the savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa. According to ܳ, savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa presents the generic and specific qualities of the individual. It is based on the nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa where the genus, the name, and the qualifying properties are implicitly apprehended. In other words, savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa is relational apprehension of the generic characters of an object as generic, and of its specific characters as specific. It contains an element of recollection of similar and dissimilar objects, and apprehends the community of its object with other similar objects and its distinction from other dissimilar objects. It apprehends an object and its generic and specific properties in a subject-predicate relation.[9]

On the other hand, ٳ󲹲ٳ Ѿś defines savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa as:

첹貹첹� tvekaikākāra� jātyādika� vivicya viṣayīkaroti[10]

I.e. savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa is apprehension of an object with its various forms such as genus, substance, quality, action, and the name as related to, and distinguished from, one another. It apprehends its object and its properties in a subject-predicate relation.

Again he says,

پⲹṇa峾� 貹ñ savikalpena vikalpyate[11]

I.e. savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa apprehends an object as belonging to a particular class, as being qualified by another substance, as being endued with a particular quality, as doing a particular action, and as bearing a particular name.

ⲹṇa ṭṭ defines savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa as:

yattu ٲ岹ԲԳٲ� śabdasmaraṇasahakṛta� jātyādiviśiṣṭavasthuviṣaya� raktohaya� ghaṭohaya� ityādi vyaktaviñԲ� tat savikalpakam.�[12]

It means that immediately after the nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa a clear cognition like ‘this is red�, ‘this is a pot�, etc., having as its object a thing qualified by class etc., and assisted by recollection of words, is produced; and this is called savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa.

Both the ʰ첹 īṃs and the ṭṭ īṃs accept that nirvikalpaka ٲⲹṣa leads to the second stage of ٲⲹṣa i.e. to the savikalpaka ٲⲹṣa.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Śǰ첹ٳپ첹, iv. 38.

[2]:

Ibid. iv. 38-39.

[3]:

Śٰī辱, pp. 35-36.

[4]:

Բⲹ岹ⲹ, ii. 1, p. 8.

[5]:

Śǰ첹ٳپ첹, iv. 112, 113.

[6]:

Śٰī辱, p. 40.

[7]:

nirvikalpam anekākāra� vastu saṃmugdha� gṛhnāti�.�-Ibid. p. 41.

[8]:

Բⲹ岹ⲹ, ii. 14, p. 17.

[9]:

Śǰ첹ٳپ첹, iv. 120-125.

[10]:

Śٰī辱, p. 41.

[11]:

Ibid. p. 41.

[12]:

Բⲹ岹ⲹ, ii. 14, p. 17.

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