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(170) Nandanavana
light etc. are also partly responsible for the process. As this knowledge depends on senses, mind and light etc., it is called Parokṣa by the Jainas.
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Umāsvāti has stated that sensory cognition is obtained through senses first and minds next. There are four steps involved in this type of cognition: apprehension (Avagraha), speculation (Ïhā), perceptual judgment (Avaya) and retention (Dharaṇā). In the first stage of apprehension, the object comes in contact with sensory organs and one feels there is something or sees it. One has only a crude idea about what it could be? Actually, this stage has two steps depending on the senses utilized for contact with the object. If senses are other than eye and mind, one will have indistinct apprehension or Darśana first and distinct apprehension next. With eyes and mind, one has always a distinct apprehension. Observation is the current name for this stage. The type of observation leads to qualify our knowledge. More acute and keen the observation, more fruitful and exact will be our knowledge. In the olden days, experiments were rare and only nature and its various aspects were observed.
The next stage is to have more observations to analyse about the nature of the object. This requires the use of mental faculty in the process of knowledge. Hence the connection of senses and mind is clearly recognized. It is clear that larger the type and number of observations, better will be their analysis for proper judgment. Pujyapada ' exemplifies these two stages. To observe a white thing is the first stage while to analyse whether it is a flag or a bird - is the next stage. For this, one has to have more particulars about the object.
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The third stage is the decisive or inferential stage. With the help of many particulars obtained about a white flag or a bird on the spot or from independent sources, one infers it decisively to be a bird as it flies up and down or flaps its wings. The process involves analytical studies of observations, classifying or separating them under various heads. Similar observations are put under the same head and others under different heads. The decision is taken after analysing the observed points and applying them to the object. The name given to
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