Pramāṇa or means of knowledge

According to Cāruvākas, a school of atheists, the only means of knowledge is pratyakṣa or sensory perception. The Vaiśeṣikas and the Buddhists recognize anumāna or inference also. The Sāṅkhyas recognize, in addition, a third namely āgama. A sect of Naiyāyikas follow the Sāṅkhyas. But another sect, namely followers of Udayana, add  upamāna or anology as the fourth. The Prabhākaras recognize arthāpatti as the fifth pramāṇa. (Devadatta who is stout and healthy does not eat during day. Therefore he eats during nights. This conclusion is arrived at by arthāpatti). The Bhāṭṭas and Māyāvadins add abhāva as the sixth means of knowledge. They say that the particular sense-organ which cognizes the presence of a particular object, also recognizes its absence. The Paurāṇikas recognize two more, namely, sambhava and aitihya, and say that there are eight means of knowledge.

The Vedānta school recognizes only three of the above means of knowledge, namely, pratyakṣa or perception, anumāna or inference and āgama or Śtruti or Smṛuti, etc., and include the other five in one or other of the three means of knowledge. They include upamāna, arthāpatti, and sambhava in inference, abhāva in perception, and aitihya in āgama. By āgamas are meant Śrutis or Vedas, Smṛutis, Itihāsas, Purāṇas, Brahmasūtras, Pāncarātras and the saying of Tamil Āḷvārs and saints.

Of these three means of knowledge, namely, perception, inference and āgama, perception is authoritative only regarding things knowable by the senses; inference is authoritative regarding some unseen objects whose necessary concomitance, or vyāpti with the known object, is ascertained by sensory perception, as in the case of fire and smoke. But, in the case of things beyond the reach of the senses, āgamas or śāstras are the only authority.

The word Śāstra, is derived from the root Śās (anuśiṣṭau) to teach, to inform, to govern, to correct, to advise. Śāstra is that which teaches pravṛitti or action and nivṛutti or inaction. Of all the Śāstras, Śruti or Veda is the foremost authority as it is self-authoritative, and does not depend upon any other thing for its being authoritative, unlike Smŗti, Ithihāsa, Purāņa etc., which depend upon Śrutis for their authority. The Śruti or Veda, unlike other śāstras, is not made by man or by any other being and therefore, it is eternal. That Śruti is eternal, is proclaimed in the Śruti itself. The Vedas are not made by any being as they are eternal. The Vedas are free from any of the four defects – illusion, cheating, inadvertence and disability, to which man-made works are liable. No śāstra is therefore, higher than the Śruti.

Veda Vyāsa says: “No śāstra is superior to Veda”. “This is called Veda because it teaches”. The former part or karma-kānḍa of the Vedas deals with karma or action, which is worship of God and the latter part, or jana-kanda deals with the nature of God. Thus, all the Vedas speak about God. The Lord of the Gita says: “The subject matter of all the Vedas is Myself”. The Vedas cannot be understood by ordinary mortals. Only rishis or seers can understand them. The meaning of the Vedas can be understood only from the upabrahmanās or elucidating supplementary of Vedas, which are called Ithihāsās, Purāṇas and which are the inspired writings of seers called riṣis. Ithihāsas are ancient histories like Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata which relate to events of the long past. Purāṇas deal with the evolution and involution of the cosmos, the several dynasties of kings, manvantaras and so on. The former part of the Vedas is elucidated mostly by Smṛutis and the latter part mostly by Ithihāsās and Purāṇas. The references to God and ātman in the Smṛutis are merely to show that karma is a form of worship of God, and reference to karma in the Ithihāsās and Purāṇas are made merely to show that karma is an aṅga or auxiliary to upāsana.

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This article is extracted from the book THE PHILOSOPHY OF ŚRI RĀMĀNUJĀ - VISIṢTADVAITA written by Sri V.R. Srisaila Chakravarti (Coimbatore) and published by V.S.R. Chakravarti, 24, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar Road, Madras - 18. The book is printed at Bharati Vijayam Press, Triplicane, Madras - 600 005 in the year 1974.

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