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Jaina Philosophy and Religion
or capacity of the connoisseur concerned. If the connoisseur concerned is competent and is desirous of attaining liberation, then he can make use of even secular treatises for attaining liberation; on the other hand, if he is not a fit person then he will downgrade himself even with the help of the treatises that are generally considered spiritual. Nevertheless, the super-ordinary spiritual treatises hold a special position on account of their subject-matter as also on account of the competence of their author.
Broadly thinking, any knowledge that is generated through the instrumentality of words, signs or gestures is verbal knowledge. It is needless to say that knowledge generated in the hearers or readers after having heard or read words is verbal knowledge. But knowledge generated through gestures is also regarded as verbal knowledge. As for example, whatever knowledge one has through the gestures of hands or through the gurgling sounds of a throat is also verbal knowledge. When a beggar puts his one hand on his stomach and lifts the other towards his mouth, we at once understand that he is hungry and wants something to eat. This knowledge is also verbal knowledge. By moving fingers on the embossed letters whatever knowledge the blind obtains is also verbal knowledge. By hearing the 'tik tik' sound signals of coming telegram whatever knowledge the man trained in that branch gains is also verbal knowledge. Whatever knowledge the two persons standing face to face have through the signs or gestures that one makes to the other is also verbal knowledge. The deaf understands what another person conveys through hand-gestures. And the dumb conveys the meaning to another person through hand-gestures. Sometimes even men whose all the five sense-organs are efficient take recourse to various gestures and signs to convey the meaning, rather than taking recourse to words. And the knowledge through them is also regarded as verbal knowledge.
We grasp the meaning after having heard words. Similarly, we grasp the meaning after having seen signs or gestures. Again, the process through which we obtain knowledge through signs or gestures is the same as the one through which we obtain knowledge through words. So knowledge through signs and gestures is also regarded as verbal knowledge.
Grasping through ears, of mere sounds of spoken letters constituting words is simply an auditory perception which, as we have already seen, develops through four stages, viz., avagraha, etc. But the understanding of the meaning of these spoken words is the verbal knowledge. Similarly,
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