________________
Jaina Logic
from the thing and reach the nose. When the sounds or words coming from a long or short distance strike the ear, we hear them with our ears. According to the Jaina view, words are the aggregates of the material atoms that have acquired capacity to convert themselves into speech. For the Jainas, therefore, the word or sound is a substance. Thus the tongue, the skin, the nose and the ear-these four sense-organs cognise their respective objects after having come in direct contact with them. But it is quite obvious that the things-whether distant or near-do not go near the eyes when they are seen with the eyes. This means that the eye perceives them without having come in direct contact with them.' So the Jainas call the eye 'aprāpyakari'. The term 'aprāpyakari' means 'that senseorgan which cognises its object (kāri) without reaching it (aprāpya), that is, without coming in its direct contact.'
Indirect valid-knowledge has five varieties, viz., memory, recognition, cogitation, inference and verbal testimony.
319
Memory and Recognition (Smarana and Pratyabhijñā)
When we recollect a thing experienced in the past, it is a case of memory. When we find a lost thing we have the cognition of the form 'That certainly is this'; it is a case of recognition. On meeting again the person formerly seen, we recognise him "That is this Candrakanta'. This is an instance of recognition.
Memory is caused by the past experience, while recognition is caused by both the actual experience and the memory operating together. When the impressions left on the mind by the past experience of a thing are revived by certain conditions, there takes place the phenomenon of memory of that thing. In recognition, the object recalled is actually before our eyes. When, on seeing a person, one recollects that he is the same person whom one saw before, it is a case of recognition. The actual experience of the thing or person is as much the cause of recognition as the impression left on the mind by the former experience of the same thing or person. In memory, the cognition takes the form 'That clock' 'That man' and the like. Thus, memory refers to its content by a form of the pronoun 'that'. This means that the object is not present before
1. The rays of light falling on a thing are reflected. Then the reflected rays reach the eye. This is the reason why we see the thing. This is the scientific view. Even in this view, it is obvious that there obtains no direct contact between visual sense-organ and its object.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
