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NYAYA-VAISEȘIKA
247 contents itself with viewing them from the ethical standpoint, and we shall refer later to its view of them in that respect. The psychology of cognition, on the other hand, is very fully treated. Before describing it, it is necessary to call attention to the distinction between presentative cognition (anubhava) and representative cognition smrti). The former generally leaves behind a trace or impression called bhāvanā or samskāra which abides in the self and, when revived, leads to recollection of what was previously cognized. That is smộti or memory. Such bhāvanā is a seventh specific quality of the self.
Presentative cognition may be broadly divided into two, viz. mediate and immediate, the manas being a necessary aid to both. The latter is termed pratyaksa which may roughly be taken as equivalent to sensation and perception; and the former, such as inferential knowledge, is known as paroksa which is based upon pratyaksa and needs no further reference in this section. On the primary character of pratyaksa is based its definition as knowledge which does not presuppose other knowledge. When we infer that there is fire on the hill, we should previously have observed smoke there, not to mention our acquaintance with the inductive relation between smoke and fire. But to cognize blueness, say, no such preliminary knowledge is necessary. That is, our first ideas are furnished by the senses. There is another definition which is more useful in understanding the psychology of perception. It states that it is knowledge which arises by contact of a sense-organ (indriya) with an object. Such contact is not the sole condition of perception, but it is its distinctive feature. The actual process is usually described as follows: The self comes into contact with the manas; the manas with the senses; and the senses with the object, when, if certain external conditions like the presence of sufficient light are satisfied, perception takes place. It is obvious that the description applies only to cases involving voluntary attention; and the process is reversed when, for instance, a man waking from sleep perceives the things about him casually. The word indriya here denotes not only the five organs of 1 NSB. I. i. 4.
* NS. II. i. 26.
