Gandharavada

SR No.: 006739
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Esther A Solomon
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyasabha
Publication Year: 1966
Total Pages: 400
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

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the connection of the soul with any mark has not been perceived. Moreover had it been so, it would have been a clear case of perception and we would not then have to resort to inference. The soul cannot even be established by the sāmānya todřsta type of inference (where a relation is established between linga and lingin on the basis of the perception of likeness in general) as is possible in the case of the movement of the sun. The sun is in the East in the morning and in the West in the evening; this charge of place is not possible without movement. Devadatta can change his place only when he moves. Therefore the sun too must be moving. In the present case there is no linga or mark found in any illustration, which is invariably concomitant with the existence of the soul and hence which could lead to the inference of the existence of the soul.
The soul cannot be known through verbal testimony (agama) also, for this latter does not differ in essence from inference. Agama or verbal testimony is two-fold according as it concerns an object that can be perceived or an object that is not amenable to sense-perception. In the former the process is as follows: A person has observed the use of the word “jar' in connection with an object which has a particular shape, etc.. He hears the words 'Bring a jar'. He argues to himself, “An object having a protruding shape in the middle and like characteristics is called a jar, because the word 'jar is used with reference to it, as noticed before in the shop. Here, I hear
the word 'jar' again. So I am expected to bring an object of the . same description and called 'jar.” Inferring thus he brings the jar. Hence verbal testimony concerning a perceptible object is not different from inference But the word 'self' (atman) has not been noticed to be used in connection with any object other than the body, so that hearing the word ‘self' one could have the knowledge of the soul. Even as regards objects that cannot be perceived, e. g. heaven, hell, etc., verbal testimony consists of the words of a trustworthy person in whose statements no discrepancy or incompatibility is found