Notion of Growth

Author(s): Hermann Kuhn
Publisher: Crosswind Publishing Germany

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Hermann Kuhn
These five types of knowledge are perceived by pramana - i.e. by instant total perception
The next sutras examine how knowledge is shaped by the channels through which we perceive it.
SUTRA 10
तत्प्रमाणे ॥ १० ॥
Tatpramane (10)
These five types of knowledge are generated by the two types of pramana. (10)
All knowledge we perceive through the senses, from external sources, through clairvoyance, direct mental perception and omniscience, is pramana.
This statement sounds simple, but has far reaching consequences. It basically says that knowledge is only what we PERCEIVE of it in the PRESENT. It says that knowledge is only what we are able to access at a particular moment in time. No matter how diligently we try to memorize a particular information or train certain reactions, if this information or reaction is not present at the very moment we need it, it is not knowledge. No matter how well we learned or practiced it, if it is blocked from our consciousness when we want to access it, it might as well not exist at all.35
35 We all experienced this e.g. at the time of exams, when to our horror knowledge we have studied for weeks, months or years suddenly is blanked from our consciousness. This indicates that our concept of knowledge and learning is flawed. It vividly demonstrates that by cramming data into our memory we do not produce knowledge.