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SUTRA
मतिश्रुतावधयो विपर्ययश्च ॥ ३१ ॥
Mati sruta vadhayo viparyayasca (31)
THE NOTION OF GROWTH
-
Sense-perception (mati)
- knowledge from external sources (sruti) and
- clairvoyance (avadhi)
can also produce error. (31)
31
What causes error?
We experience error when we project concepts onto our perception that do not correspond with reality.
115
We experience error when our notion of growth - i.e. our flawless insight into reality - is not active.
Jain Education International
The cause for error is not the process of perception itself. When we are guided by the notion of growth we perceive exactly the same forms, colors etc. as someone who is subjected to erroneous concepts. Error is caused when the processing of our perception is not oriented towards the purpose of reality.54
Error manifests in the form of
- Doubt (sansaya) - Doubt rejects insights how to reorient our ideas and actions before they can effect us. Even though a certain degree of (temporary) insight into the real mechanisms of this world exists, we reject
54 An analogy illustrates this mechanism: When we pour milk into a vessel with a bitter taste on its own, then the milk adopts this taste. The cause for the change in taste is not the milk itself or the process of pouring, but the flaw of the vessel - its bitterness.
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