________________
EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTION
99
also divides perceptions into two categories: ordinary and extraordinary. Ordinary perception has been defined as the direct and immediate comprehension of gross objects, produced by a particular relation between the sense-organs and their objects with the help of light, time, space, and merit or demerit of the person. Extraordinary perception has been defined as the direct and immediate cognition of distant, past, future, and subtle objects. The Vedāntists accept the view of the Pātañjala school in its entirety. It is evident from this brief account that the concept of extra-sensory perception is not new to the Indian mind.
Now, let us record the evidence of psychical research to measure the validity of extra-sensory perceptions.
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH ON EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTION
It is a general conclusion of modern scientific psychology that all our ideas, images, and concepts are mere representatives of the sensory perceptions that have been acquired in our experience. No element of cognition can ever be found in the mind that has not entered there through the windows of the senses. Thus, our cognitive structure is nothing but our sensory experience limited in time and space.
✓ There has been ample research work in the field of Psychical Research that shows the possibility of cognition independent of he assistance of the senses and mind. Such phenomena as clairvoyance, telepathy, clairaudience, and the like have been recorded to prove the validity of the occurrence of extra-sensory perceptions. 'Clairvoyance and telepathy are a primary datum of scientific observation. Those endowed with this power grasp the secret thoughts of other individuals without using their sense-organs. They also perceive events more or less remote in space and time. This quality is exceptional. It develops in only a small number of human beings. But many possess it in a rudimental state. They use it without effort and in a spontaneous fashion,'2 Professor McDougal writes: "The ancient belief in clairvoyance seems also in a fair way established. Further, pre-cognition or fore-sight of events that
! Indian Psychology: Perception, pp. 335-55. 2 Man, the Unknown, p. 124.
