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The General Conception of Knowledge
The act of process of knowing is viewed as an act with object (a kriya with karman). The result of the transitive verb is not found in the agent. It rests in something other than the doer. It is manifested not in the doer but in the object. The act of cooking for instance, is seen in the agent, but its result, of softness (vikleda) is found in the cooked material, i. e., rice, grain etc. The former is the subject, the latter the object. When Jñana arises in the self, relating the self to an object, the latter is affected in a particular way, so that the experience is not wholly a subjective manifestation; but, also an objective modification corresponding to it. The object becomes illumined (prakāśavisista) thereby; and it being thus, illumined or made known (prakata or jñāta): its jñātatā serves as a sign for our inference that Jñana must have arisen in the self.
Prabhakara disagrees with Kumarila and holds that the self does not suffer any change. He follows the Nyaya conception in this respect. Action, according to Prabhakara, is not movement or change but merely the sense expressed by a verb.
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Kumarila's view criticised
In the domain of philosophy the term act kriya) or process (vyāpāra) is full of confusion. According to the N. V. systems kriya means five types of motion which necessarily implies the change of place. This sort of action is not possible in the self which according to the Mimämsä system is all-pervading. The Vaiseṣika also denies this sort of action to any all-pervading substance. The other kind of action is modal change or parināma. It is both, automatic as well as implemented by the external cause. But, Kumarila cannot explain this short of action also in a permanent all pervading substance. According to Jaina the self is as big as the body it occupies. It increases and decreases according to the size of the body. At the same time it can move from one place to another place. So, both, types of changes viz. the change of place (spanda) and change of form (pariņāma) are possible in it. But, they are not feasible
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