Tattva Sangraha Vol 2

SR No.: 007609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kamlashila, Ganganatha Jha
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra
Publication Year: 1939
Total Pages: 887
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 84 MB

Page 200

LOKÄYATA-MATERIALISM.
925
TEXTS (1937-1938).
WHEN THERE IS NO INCONGRUITY IN SUBJECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS BY
ITSELF, WE ARE NOT EAGER TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF ANOTHER BODY.-BUT, EVEN THOUGH NOT SEEN, SUCH A BODY CANNOT BE DENIED ; BECAUSE THE NON-PERCEPTION MAY BE DUE ONLY TO UNCERTAINTY IN THE MAN WITH DEFEOTIVE EYESIGHT.-AS IN THE
CASE OF SCANTY SMOKE.-(1937-1938)
COMMENTARY.
What is meant is as follows :—What is meant to be proved is the existence of the other world'; and how can it be proved ?-It can be proved if it is shown that Consciousness is without beginning and without end ; as it is only an aspect of Consciousness that figures in the Idea of the other world'; this Idea cannot subsist in the Body, which is a material object with a shape ; as the other world' is held to be there even when the Body is not there. If the Chain of Cognitions' is proved to be without beginning and without end, then the existence of our other World also becomes proved. Hence we do not put forth any effort towards proving the existence of the other Body; as it would be useless.
Simply because the other body is not seen, it cannot be denied ; as this not-seeing may be due to the absence of necessary attention, as happens in the case of the man with defective eyesight, even though the body may be there all right; as it happens when there is a scanty line of smoke; so that mere non-perception does not prove non-existence. In fact a subsequent body is described as actually perceived by persons of pure birth and super-normal vision.
For these same reasons, there can be no denial of the 'migratory body (Lingasharira) postulated by the Sankhya.
In the case of the previously-born body also, it is just possible that there may be non-perception due to the remoteness of place due either to its being produced at a remote place, or to the difference in its character, as in the case of Ghosts and Goblins. Even when the bodies are not remote, people with normal vision can never cognise with certainty that it is such and such a being who has become born as a bird ; just as there is no recognition in cases where the body is changed by means of the use of medicines with unthinkable potency-(1937-1938)
Question: "How is it then that Cognitions appearing in different sub. strata are spoken of as belonging to the same Chain ?"
Answer: