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Epistemology of Jainas
The Nyaya Theory of Supernormal Perception
According to the Nyaya theory of knowledge all pereption. except that of God, results from a contact between senses and the object. This principle is applied every where, Even the supernormal-perception is not an exception to it. But, in order to depend the above principle and to apply it every where the Nyaya has become so lenient or rather lose in the conception of contact, that it has nearly lost the sense of restriction. One can establish the contact everywhere.
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The Nyaya divide that contact into two categories of Ordinary contact (laukika sannikarsa) and Extraordinary contact (alaukika sannikarṣa). The ordinary contact has been already discussed with its six varieties.
Extraordinary contact has the following three types1 : (1) The contact through the knowledge of generic character (samanya-lakṣaṇa-sannikarṣa).
contact through association
(2) The sannikarṣa)
(Jñāna-laksaṇa
(3) The contact produced by meditation (yogaja-sannikarṣa)
(1) The Contact through the Knowledge of generic character
Sometimes, through the knowledge of generic nature of an individual, we perceive all other individuals of that kind with all times and places, in respect of the same generic nature. In such cases, the knowledge of generic nature (samanya) of an object constitutes the extraordinary contact. For instance, when we see a particular case of smoke along with its generic character (dhümatva), we have a universal preception of smokeness related with all the three times. In the preception of smoke we have ordinary contact viz., union (samyoga) between the visual organ and the particular smoke; in the perception of generic character we have the contact of united-inherence (samyukta-samavaya) between visual organ and the generic character. These two are the cases of ordinary contact, but in 1. Kärlkavali K. 63-65
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