Knowledge and Belief

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

Since the topic of knowledge and belief is being discussed I am reproducing a

portion from my website.

 

with love and prayers,

 

Jaishankar

 

How do we look at the Vedas?

 

The vedas are looked upon as a 'Pramanam'. 'Prama' means valid knowledge. So

Pramanam is 'Prama karanam' - a means of valid knowledge. 'Pramanam' is

translated as 'Authority' by many scholars and this translation totally misses

the point. Now let us see what is meant by Pramanam or means of knowledge.

 

We all know for knowledge to take place, a Knower should be there first. Then

the object to be known also should be present. Now if the Knower and Known are

there, will knowledge take place? No. A third factor is necessary which is

called a means of knowledge. For example let us consider that you are facing

the computer monitor. Will you automatically see the words on the screen? No.

You have to have a properly working eye looking at the screen. Then knowledge

will take place. So eyes are the means of knowledge for seeing colors and

forms. Similarly Nose is the means of knowledge for smell. Ears for sound.

Tongue for taste etc. The Knowledge gained through our sense organs as a means

of knowledge is called Perception.

 

Based on Perception we can also infer different things and this Inference also

is a valid means of knowledge. Like we know there is fire when we see smoke.

Science as a body of knowledge is nothing but perception and different kinds of

inference or Reasoning.

 

Now there are certain important things to be understood about these pramanams

or means of knowledge.

 

1. A means of knowledge reveals a unique field of knowledge to me. For example

colors are revealed only by the eyes. No other Pramanam has access to color

other than the eyes. The ear or Nose cannot prove or disprove the fact that the

font you are seeing is of brown color. Now what is the implication of this? If

a pramanam reveals a unique field of knowledge not accessible to other means of

knowledge then there can be no proof for what it reveals. why? If no other

means of knowledge has any access to what is revealed by a particular means of

knowledge then how can anyone prove it.

 

For example if your eyes reveal the color of this font as brown, there is no

other proof for proving that your eyes are seeing properly. Your ears cant

prove nor your tongue nor your nose etc. What about somebody else's eye? But

what is the proof he is seeing correctly? This looking for proof will become

regressive. In fact if we look for a proof for any cognition then no cognition

can be called as knowledge because you wont find any proof and you will end up

with regression.

 

But then we do conduct our day to day life on the basis of the cognitions

gained through our senses. When you see something you see that thing and also

you know that you see that thing. The cognition is clinched. That means we have

knowledge as soon as we see something. We dont look for any proof for the

validity of that cognition. Therefore we say any cognition is valid until it is

disproved or negated. This is called Self validity of knowledge.

 

2. A pramanam should not contradict any other known body of knowledge. If it

contradicts then it loses its status as a pramanam with respect to that

cognition. For example you saw a snake when the light was dim. But when you

brought a torch light, it turned out to be a rope. Now with respect to the

snake cognition your eyes are not a pramanam because it was negated by a later

and more lasting cognition of rope. Similarly in the case of the cognition of

blue sky, Stationary earth etc.

 

We use lot of logic while analysing the Vedas only to show that what is

revealed by the Veda is unique and it can neither be proved nor disproved by

any other means of knowledge. There is a discipline called Miimaamsaa in our

traditional studies. Miimaamsaa means Analysis. In English they call it

Hermeneutics. What they do in Miimaamsaa is take each and every Vedic sentence

and analyse whether what it reveals is already known. If it is already known

through some other pramanam then Veda is only restating and it is called

Anuvada. In this case Veda is not a pramanam. But suppose Veda is revealing

that there is heaven. This statement is a 'pramana Vakyam ' or 'revealing

Sentence' because Heaven is not available for perception or Inference. With

respect to Heaven veda is a pramanam because heaven can neither be proved nor

disproved by any other means of knowledge.

 

When Veda is revealing the nature of the Self as limitless there are other

contentions that 'Self is limited' or 'Self is of the size of the Body' or

'Self is Shunyam or non-existent' etc. Now we use logic extensively to show

that all these statements are illogical. Anything illogical cannot be

knowledge. But what Veda reveals is not available for logic. So we conclude

that it is knowledge. Again to start with, you should have shraddha to give the

status of a pramanam to Veda. Finally the proof of a pramanam is in using it

and finding out for yourself whether what it reveals is true or not. It is true

for every pramanam right from your eyes. I will explain this with an example.

 

A congenitally blind person was performed an eye transplant operation and the

day when they have to remove the bandage came. The patient said to the Doctor

who came to remove the bandage 'Doctor, I will allow you to remove the bandage

only if you can prove that my eyes will see because I cant bear the

disappointment otherwise.' Can the doctor prove that the patient's eye will

see? No. He can only say 'You use your eyes and see. If it sees then you see'.

Similarly you use the Veda as a pramana and see. If you see then it is a

Pramanam and there is no reason why you should'nt see what the veda reveals.

 

Giving this status of Pramanam to the veda is very important because otherwise

what it reveals wont be knowledge and it will only be a speculation. And with

speculations you cant gain Moksha - Freedom from limitations, but with

knowledge you will. But it is upto you to use the Veda as a Pramanam. That is

why Krsna says " Shraddhaavaan labhathe jnanam' - 'The one with Shraddhaa gains

knowledge'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!

/

[Guest guest]

Thanks Jaishankarji - Excellent summary on Pramaa and Pramaanam.

Hari Om!

Sadananda

 

______________________

Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com