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xx] Error and Doubt according to Veňkațanātha 219 ferent from the relation and the relata, but implies them. The relations and the relata thus jointly yield the conception of a determinate being. The unifying trait that constitutes determinateness is not an extraneous entity, but is involved in the fact that all entities in this world await one another for their self-manifestation through relations, and it is this mutual awaitedness that constitutes their bond of unity, through which they appear connectedly in a determinate conception?. It is this mutual awaitedness of entities that contributes to their apprehension, as connected in experience, which is simultaneous with it, there being no mediation or arresting of thought of any kind between the two3. The fact that all our perceptions, thoughts and ideas always appear as related and connected is realized in universal experience. All linguistic expressions always manifest the purport of the speech in a connected and related form. Had it not been so, communication of ideas through our speech would have been impossible.
Nirvikalpa knowledge is a cognition in which only some fundamental characters of the object are noted, while the details of many other characters remain unelaborated". Savikalpa knowledge, on the other hand, is a cognition of a number of qualities and characters of the object, together with those of its distinctive features by which its differentiation from other objects is clearly affirmed5.
On the analogy of visual perception, the perception of other senses may be explained. The relation of samavāya admitted by the Naiyāyikas is discarded by the Rāmānuja view on account of the difficulty of defining it or admitting it as a separate category. Various relations, such as container and contained, contact and the like, are revealed in experience in accordance with the different directions in which things await one another to be related; and
i na ca pratyekam visistata-pātah militānām eva visistatvāt. Naya-dyu-mani.
2 eka-buddhi-visayata-thāņāın padā-rthānām anyo-nya-sāpeksa-svarūpatvam militatuam. Ibid.
s visistatua-dhi-visayatve ca teşām sāpeksattam ca yaugapadyāt tatra virāmāpratiteh sāpekşată siddhā ca. Ibid.
nirvikalpakam caghață-der anullekhitā-nuurtti-dharma-ghațatva-di-katipayavisesana-risistatayā-rtha-racchedakam jñānam. Ibid.
s ullekhită-nurrtty-ādi-dharmaka-neka-riseşana-visistatayā sākşād-vastu-vyatacchedakam jñānam sarikalpakam. Ibid.
Venkatanatha however defines savikalpa and nirvikalpa knowledge as "sa pratyavamaría-pratyakşam sarikalpakam" and "tad-rahitam pratyakşain nirvikalpakam." Nyāya-parisuddhi, p. 77.
