Nyaya Vidya or Tarka Sastra

• Founded by the sage Gotama, also known as Aksapada.

• Primarily concerned with the conditions of correct knowledge and the means of receiving this knowledge.

• The science of logic or reasoning – the science of critical study (Anviksiki).

• Discovers the validity or invalidity of knowledge.

• Premise - If you master the logical techniques of Nyaya and apply it in daily life, you can rid yourself of all suffering.

• Nyaya has 16 divisions (padarthas) of studying reality (see hand-out).

• Let us quickly go through the 14 components other than Pramana and Prameya first.

1. Doubt – Samsaya – A state in which the mind wavers between conflicting views regarding a single object. Is that a plant or a human being in the darkness? Is that a rope or a serpent? Samsaya is not certain knowledge, nor is it a mere reflection of knowledge, nor is it invalid knowledge. It is a positive state of cognition but the cognition is split in two and does not provide any definite conclusion. Doubt is the product of a confused state of mind.

2. Aim – Prayojana – No action can be performed without an objective, a target or an aim. It does not matter if the aim is only presumed or is fully understood. One acts either to achieve desirable objects or to get rid of undesirable ones; these desirable or undesirable objects are known as prayojana.

3. Example – Drstanta – This refers to using an example or an illustration to highlight a common fact and establish an argument. Useful examples can be accepted by both parties in a dispute. For instance, one can say that there must be fire because one sees smoke and one can refer to the fire and smoke in a kitchen to establish common ground.

4. Doctrine – Siddhanta – is an axiomatic postulate accepted as undisputed truth and serves as the foundation for the entire theory of a particular system of philosophy. For instance, it is a Nyaya siddhanta that there is a Nimitta Karana (efficient cause) of the universe.

5. Constituents of inference – Avayava – means parts or components. Nyaya uses inference to establish reasons and come to conclusions in arguments. If an inference has five necessary parts, it is assumed that it can give correct knowledge. These components are: pratijna (statements), hetu (reason), udaharana (example), upanaya (universal proposition) and nigamana (conclusion).

6. Hypothetical argument – Tarka – it is the process of questioning and cross-questioning with the mind that leads to a particular conclusion. Tarka can be useful in differentiating between invalid and valid knowledge.

7. Conclusion – Nirnaya – is certain knowledge that is attained by using legitimate means. It is the ascertaining of the truth about something, perhaps using Tarka or other ways of perception like direct perception, inference, testimony or intuition.

8. Discussion – Badha – is a debate between two parties – exponent and opponent – on a subject. But both are agreed on using the methods of reasoning and logic and valid knowledge can be reached if both parties are honest and free from prejudices.

9. Wrangling – Jalpa – is when the two parties try to defeat each other through dishonest means. There is an involvement of ego instead of a true search for knowledge.

10. Irrational reasoning – Vitanda – is argumentation aimed at refuting or destroying an antagonist’s position without seeking to establish one’s own position – it is mere destructive criticism. This usually happens when one of the parties realizes that his position is weak.

11. Specious reasoning – Hetvabhasa – is irrational argument which is reasoning that appears to be valid but is really unfounded.

12. Unfair reply – Chala – trickery – a statement meant to cheat or to fool someone in an argument. A person pretends to understand a word or phrase used in a particular sense as other than what was intended and then denies the truth of this deliberate misinterpretation of the speaker’s words.

13. Generality based on false analogy – Jati – a technical term used to describe a debate in which an unfair reply or conclusion is based on a false analogy. Example of sound – is it non-eternal or eternal? One can argue that it is eternal by comparing it with the sky. But it is a false analogy because there is no universal relationship between the non-material and the eternal.

14. Grounds for defeat – Nigrahasthana – the grounds on which a person is defeated in his argument. Happens when a person misunderstands his own or his opponent’s premises and becomes helpless and eventually accepts defeat in the debate.

PRAMANA – THE SOURCES OF VALID KNOWLEDGE

To perceive a thing in its true nature is true knowledge.

• Prama = valid knowledge

• Pramana is that through which valid knowledge is received.

• Knowledge itself is of two types: anubhava (experiential) and smriti (memory). Both categories can be divided into valid and invalid knowledge. Valid experiential knowledge is called prama and invalid experiential knowledge is aprama.

• Four pramanas: Perception (pratyaksha), inference (anumana), comparison (upamana) and testimony (sabda). There are four types of valid knowledge that can be got through these means.

• Aprama is divided into doubt (samsaya), faulty cognition (bhrama or viparyaya) and hypothetical argument (tarka).

Perception (Pratyaksa)Perception is the knowledge produced by the contact of the senses with the objects of the world.

Nyaya classifies perception in different ways.

1. Ordinary (laukika) – this takes place when a perception is derived from direct contact with a sense object.

2. Extraordinary (alaukika) – when an object is not directly present to the senses but is conveyed to the senses through unusual modes.

3. External (bahya) – any or all of the faculties of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell are involved in bringing the object to the mind. The five senses are gross senses…

4. Internal (manasa) - …and the mind is the subtle sixth sense – the faculty which perceives qualities of soul like desire, aversion, pleasure, pain and cognition.

5. Laukika (ordinary perception) is either indeterminate (nirvikalpa) or determinate (savikalpa) – for instance the first glance at a table shows us just its mere existence, the general appearance – a second look shows us the details. Determination is always preceded by indeterminate perception.

6. Alaukika (extraordinary perception) is of three types:

a. Perception of classes (samanya laksana) Eg. All people are mortal. But one cannot come to this knowledge through the laukika since the senses cannot at once perceive the mortality of all people. But one can come to this conclusion by acknowledging the personhood of each individual and personhood is common to all humans and this can be directly sensed and becomes the medium through which all people, or the class of people, can be perceived to be mortal.

b. Perception based on association (jnana laksana) Eg. One says that something looks delicious, or a block of ice looks cold or that a stone looks hard. This implies that the taste of food, coldness of ice and hardness of stone is perceived by the eye. But how can the eye perceive the qualities of touch and taste? It is because the past experience of touch and taste become closely associated with the visual appearance of the causative agents.

c. Intuitive perception (yogaja) – Knowledge born of yogic practices. It is intuitive and never depends on sense-object contact and is never false; it is perceived after the mind is cleansed through yogic practices. Those who have attained spiritual perfection and perceive intuitive knowledge of all objects constantly and spontaneously are called yukta yogins. Those still on the path and who are practicing concentration and such conditions are called yunjan yogins.

INFERENCE

It is the detailed process of knowing something not by means of contact between the senses and the objects of the world and not by observation but rather through the medium of a sign or linga that is invariably related to it.

Anumana – the cognition or knowledge that follows from some other knowledge.

Eg. You see smoke on the hill and arrive at/infer knowledge of fire on the hill because of previous knowledge of the universal relationship between smoke and fire, as in a kitchen.

The knowledge of smoke on the hill is called linga, or sign.

Next arises the awareness of the universal relationship between smoke and fire based on past observations – this is known as vyapti.

As a result, knowledge of the unperceived (directly) fire on the hill arises – this is known as nirnaya or conclusion.

The hill, the subject under consideration, is the minor term in this inferential argument – paksa.

The fire, what one wants to prove in relation to the hill, is the major term – sadhya.

The presence of smoke on the hill is the linga, the sign that indicates the fire. It is also called hetu or meaning “the reason or grounds for inference”.

INFERENCE

It is a syllogism consisting of at least three categorical premises – paksa, sadhya, linga – ordered thus:

There is fire on the hill. There is visible smoke on the hill. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, as in the kitchen.

It is important to state the inference in a systematic, comprehensive chain of arguments and then one must state it in the form of five premises: pratijna (fact), hetu (reason), udaharana (example), upanaya (application) and nigamana (conclusion).

John is mortal. Because he is a man. All men are mortal, for example, Napoleon, Lincoln, Socrates and so on. John is a man. Therefore John is mortal.

The Nyaya method of inference uses inductive reasoning – it draws a particular conclusion on the grounds of a general and universally known truth

COMPARISON – UPAMANA

This kind of knowledge comes when one perceives the similarity between the description of an unfamiliar object and its actual appearance to one’s senses.

Eg. A friend describes crab apples as looking like a regular red apple but it is smaller and has a longer stem. You go into the forest and find a tree bearing this fruit you have never seen but you remember the description and conclude that this is a crabapple tree.

The Carvaka system of philosophy does not recognize this mode as a source of knowledge; it maintains that perception is the sole source of knowledge.

Buddhism recognizes it as a valid source of knowledge but regards it as a mere compound of perception and testimony.

The Vaisesika and Samkhya systems explain upamana as simply a form of inference.

The Jaina systems maintains that it is merely a kind of recognition.

The Mimamsa and Vedanta systems consider upamana an independent source of knowledge but they explain it in a different way.

TESTIMONY – SABDA – “WORDS”

It is the knowledge derived from words or sentences. But not all verbal knowledge is sabda. Sabda is defined as the statement of an apta or a person who speaks and acts the way he thinks; a person whose mind, action and speech are in perfect harmony and is therefore accepted as an authority.

The validity of verbal knowledge depends on two conditions:

1. The meaning of the statement must be perfectly understood

2. The statement must be the expression of a trustworthy person, an apta.

There are two ways of classifying sabda:

I. Based on the nature of the object of knowledge:

1. The trustworthy assertions of ordinary persons, saints, sages and scriptures on matters related to the perceptible objects of the world. Eg. Testimony in court, doctor’s diagnosis, ritual prescriptions.

2. The trustworthy assertions of persons, saints, sages and scriptures on matters concerning the super-sensible realities. Eg. Physicist on atoms, nutritionist on vitamins, seer’s instructions on virtue, scriptural statements on God and immortality.

SABDA – TESTIMONY – “WORDS”

II. Based on the nature of the source of the knowledge

All testimony is categorized as either:

a. Scriptural – refers only to the sacred writings related to the Veda and the Veda itself. These words are perfect and infallible.

b. Secular – refers to the testimony of fallible human beings and may be either true or false.

Nyaya asks: What is a word, what is a sentence and what the nature of their construction? It says the essential nature of any word lies in its meaning and there must be specific rules governing the arrangement of words as without such rules, words can be reordered to convey a meaning different from what was intended.

Nyaya states: All words are significant symbols and have the capacity to designate their respective objects. This capacity is called sakti (potency) and this potency is said to be the will of God. There are four conditions essential to proper functioning of words and sentences:

Akamsa – expectancy – the word “bring” makes one expect another – jar? Book?

Yogyata – fitness – refers to appropriateness. “Moisten with fire” has no “fitness”.

Sannidhi – proximity – words must be used within appropriate limits of time and space in terms of continuity. If you speak a word today, another tomorrow, effective communication fails.

Tatparya – intention – the meaning one intends to convey; dependent on context. Confusion comes even in scriptures because one does not understand the original intention.

PRAMEYA – 12 OBJECTS OF KNOWLEDGE

Not all these objects are found in the physical world which is composed of the four gross elements – air, fire, water, earth. Soul and mind are involved in the physical world but are not physical elements. Time and space are nonmaterial but belong to the physical world. Akasa (space or ether) is also a physical substance but not a productive cause.

SOUL: The soul is a unique substance of which all desires, aversions, pleasures, pains and cognitions are qualities. Indestructible. Eternal. Its attribute is consciousness. Infinite. All-pervading. There are many souls – as one person’s experience is completely distinct from any other’s.

Body is not soul because immaterial consciousness cannot be an attribute of a material body. Neither can the functioning of the senses explain the processes of imagination, memory and ideation. Soul experiences the external world through the mind and senses. All cognitions and conscious states arise in the soul when the soul is related to the mind, the mind to the senses and the senses to external objects.

The soul is not known by sensory perception but rather by inference (anumana) and testimony (sabda). Memory must depend on a permanent entity – the soul. One’s own soul can be known through mental perception but another’s soul in another body can only be inferred.

LIBERATION

Liberation means absolute freedom from all pain and misery – a state in which the soul is completely released from all bondage and its connections to the body.

To attain this one needs to acquire true knowledge of the soul and all the objects of experience. This knowledge is called tattvajnana which means “to know reality as completely distinct from unreality”.

There is a 3-stage path.

1. Sravana – study of the scriptures, understand their authority.

2. Manana – rumination – the aspirant must use his own reasoning power to ponder what he has learnt.

3. Nididhyasana – contemplate on the soul, confirm your knowledge and practice that truth in life.

The truth realised within dispels the darkness of self-identification and misunderstanding (mithyajnana) concerning “I-ness” and “Thy-ness”.

When this happens, the person ceases to be moved by his passions and impulses and begins to perform his duties selflessly without having any desire to reap the fruit of these actions.

The fire of true knowledge roasts one’s past karmas like seeds making them unable to germinate.

THE CONCEPT OF GOD

God is considered the efficient cause of creation, maintenance and destruction of the universe. God does not create the world out of nothing or out of himself but rather out of the eternal atoms of space, time, mind and soul. The “creation” of the universe refers to the ordering of these entities which are in coexistence with God in a mortal world.

Nyaya’s arguments for God:

1. Causal – everything is made up of parts, possess limited dimensions and are not intelligent so they cannot be their own cause. They require the guidance of an intelligent cause and that is God, the ultimate intelligent entity.

2. Adrsta – the unseen or the unknown which can also be translated as fate or providence. Returns to the law of karma. Some people are happy and some not – it must not be because there is no cause because every event has cause. It must be due to their actions in this life or previous lives. Deficiencies and demerits (papa) versus merits (punya).

3. Scriptural testimony – the Vedas, Upanishads and all other authoritative scriptures state the existence of God. These were not written by common people but formulated by sages who experienced truth within. The authority of testimony depends on direct experience which is the only source of knowledge about any and all facts. The fact of the existence of God was directly experienced by individual souls and they expressed their god-realizations. The Veda is the expression of such direct experiences of God. Therefore, God exists.