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SENSORY AND MENTAL COMPREHENSION
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variety is verbal comprehension proper, inasmuch as it is a kind of cognition which is different from material symbols. It can be produced through any of the senses and the mind provided it involves verbal assertion. Thus, it is natural that only those who possess the faculty of speech are capable of verbal comprehension. When we hear a sound or see a coloured shape, there arises in the wake of sensory perception, i.e., non-verbal comprehension, a cognition having appropriate words composed of various letters following the conventional vocabulary. This type of cognition is called verbal comprehension. Now, a question may be raised in this connection. If the objects of all the sense-organs can produce verbal comprehension, where lies the differentiating factor of nonverbal comprehension and verbal comprehension? The answer is as follows: Conscious exercise of the faculty of language is the essential condition of verbal comprehension, but such is not the case with non-verbal comprehension. A perception that does not involve conscious reference at the time of the application of vocabulary, falls in the category of non-verbal comprehension. Such perception is not scriptural in nature. Mere verbal application is not said to be of the nature of scriptural cognition. The perception must involve conscious attempt on the part of the knower at the application of vocabulary if it is to be entitled to be called verbal comprehension. Jinabhadra gives the same answer in the following manner: "The knowledge that emerges on account of the activity of the sense-organs and mind, is possessed of proper words according to the conventional application, and is capable of expressing its object clearly, is verbal comprehension, whereas the rest is non-verbal comprehension.' Speculation, simple perceptual judgment, and the like are also possessed of proper language, but nevertheless, they fall in the category of non-verbal comprehension, since there is no deliberate application of language in these cases. Mere verbal association is not considered sufficient to raise a cognition to the status of verbal comprehension. True, in our
2 Haribhadra's Commentary on Nandi-sūtra, 39. 2 Indiyamanonimittan jar vinnānam suyānusāreņa.
Niyayatthuttisamattham tam bhāvasuvar mai sesan. Višesāvaśyaka-bhāşya, 100.
