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58
Tattvarthasutra
[2.21-22
Thus, the totality of these four types is each a complete sense (indriya) such as touch, etc. The lesser the totality, the greater the incompleteness of the sense.
Question - Usage is a particular knowledge that is the result of the senses; how can it be called a sense?
Answer - Although perception, withdrawal, and means are the functions of the totality, here, by treatment, that which is attributed as a cause in work is also referred to as a sense.
The objects known by the senses, namely touch, taste, smell, color, and sound, are their meanings.
The subject of the non-sensory (mind) is hearing.
Not all substances in the world are the same. Some substances are material (murta), and some are non-material (amurta). Those that are material are those which have color, smell, taste, touch, etc. Only material substances can be known through the senses; non-material substances cannot. The different subjects described for the five senses are entirely distinct and are not of the same essence (substance-form), but are different modes (paryaya) of one substance, i.e., the five senses engage in knowing the various specific states of the same substance. Therefore, the five subjects mentioned in this aphorism for the five senses should not be understood as separate or independent, but rather as parts of the same material (poudgalik) substance. Just as a laddu (sweet) is known differently by the five senses: the fingertip provides knowledge of its coolness and warmth through touch; the tongue, its sourness and sweetness through taste; the nose, its fragrance or odor through smell; the eyes, its colors like red and white through sight; and the ear, the sounds or noises produced by eating that hard laddu. It is not the case that touch, taste, smell, color, and sound occupy separate places in that laddu. They all pertain to its various parts.