Jaina Theory of Knowledge

Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Gujarat Vidyapith Ahmedabad

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JAINA THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
all forms and determinations. Its object is the unique momentary thing-in-itself (svalaksana) devoid of all qualifications. 13
The Sankhya maintains that indeterminate cognition is the immediate apprehension of an object free from all associations of name, class, and the like. It is purely presentative in character possessing no element of representation.!4 It is the first act of immediate knowledge that apprehends an object, pure and simple, devoid of the relationship between the qualified objects and its qualifications. It is the function of the external senses which give us a non-relational apprehension of an object unqualified by its properties. The external senses cognise an object as merely this' and not as like this' or 'unlike this?. Discrimination and assimilation, analysis and synthesis - all these are attributed to the function of mind.is
Prasastapada, an exponent of the Vaisesika school, remarks that just after the contact of an object with a senseorgan there is immediate apprehension of the mere form of the object. Indeterminate cognition is nothing but this apprehension. It perceives an object with its generic and specific characters, but does not distinguish them from each other. It is the first stage of perception and not the result of any other prior cognition.6 Sridhara holds that indeterminate cognition is the immediate apprehension of the mere form of an object which is purely a presentative process free from all determinations and representative elements. It cognises both the general and particular