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OUTLINES OF JAINA PHILOSOPHY
RECOLLECTION
Recollection is a cognition which has for its condition the stimulation of a memory-impression (retention ) and which refers to its content by a form of the pronoun 'that.'1
When requisite conditions such as the elimination and subsidence of obstructive veils, observation of similar objects, and the like (similarity, contiguity, and contrast of modern psychology) are at work to bring it to maturation, recollection occurs. And so the clause which has for its condition the stimulation of a memory-impression' has been stated. The phrase 'which refers to its content by a form of the pronoun that’ is inserted for setting forth its mode of communication.
It is Jainism alone that regards recollection (smyti) as a valid and independent means of cognition among all the philosophical systems in India. As a consequence, it has to face many objections from the side of opponents. How can recollection be a means of cognition when it is not cognisant of a datum perceived at present, and thus is found to lack an objective basis? This is an objection. The answer is: It is certainly possessed of an object that has been experienced in the past. The reality of the object, and not its actually felt presence is the condition of validity of â cognition. If it be contended, on the analogy of perception, that the object must be felt as present in order that the cognition may be valid, one might with equal force contend that perceptual cognition is invalid, since it is found to lack the criterion of referring to a fact that has been experienced in the past. If the opponent thinks that the revelation of the relevant object is the criterion of validity, it is found to be equally present in the case of recollection (memory) also. Another objection is that how can a dead object be the generating condition of recollection? The Jaina answers: It is your delusion that makes you think so. For validity of cognition, it is not necessary that the object must be the generating condition. For instance, light which comes into being on the operation of its own conditions reveals the objects jar and the like, though not generated by them, so also does a cognition reveal its object, though it is not produced by the object.
i l'asanodbodhahetukä tadityihira smytih. Pramāna-mimāṁsā, I, 2, 3.
