________________
KNOWLEDE OBSCURING KARMA
119
The stimulus from outside creates a sort of excitation in the end-organ (ear, eye, etc.) --- Only in the organs of sensation and not in the mind. In this first stage a relation is established between the subjective and objective world.
2. After the relation is established, a kind of excitation takes place in the consciousness, where the person thinks “What is that ?" This second stage, in the process, is the first activity of the mind (manas). It is the state of mind, in which the person asks himself "What is that ?' or What was that?' when recalling something seen or heard in the past.
3. Then after the mind has thus been aroused, there follow three more stages in the process of knowing the object. The mind itself does not come into contact with the physical object and does not pass through the above mentioned stage No. 1; still it has the 2nd. In the 3rd stage now being mentioned the consciousness begins to run in this way: (suppose I see something in the distance which I cannot quite make out). “What is this ? well, it cannot be a person, still it has that shape, and yet it does not move" etc. It is a kind of cogitation. There is the consciousness of similarities and differences.
4. And then you come to the fourth stage. It is the conclusion. “No, it is a tree stump and not a human being". (Western psychologies would say that all this is the activity of the mind.)
5. In this stage a kind of process goes on in the consciousness of the individual, and the result of the process is the preservation to a more or less extent of the consciousness acquired in this way. A modification of the consciousness has taken place and will last a certain length of time; and this lasting quality is called dhāranā”. (The names of the previous stages are given below.) This last stage ruanifests in the form of the continuance for a certain length of time of the new knowledge. It may also manifest itself in the form which results in only certain impressions made on our consciousness; on account of the impressions the life of the individual is so changed that the activities will in future be different. And a
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
