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Part LI -
Summary of Mechanism of Perceptual Knowledge
In the concluding part of the section on ‘Perception’,
VP summarizes the essence of perceptual knowledge:
Firstly, perceptual knowledge is direct and immediate.
There are two types of perceptual knowledge: The first
is based on the sense input forming the attributive
content of the vRRitti. This is illuminated as it forms
by the witnessing consciousness. All the objects that
are external are perceived via the sense input of their
attributive content. The five senses (consisting of
sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch), provide their
input to the mind in the form of vRRitti-s. Each of
the five senses, having its specific field of operation,
is connected to its respective sense organ. Thus, eyes
can only see and ears can only hear etc. The world (‘prapa~ncha’)
is seen through these five senses; hence, it is called
in Sanskrit pra (in front of) pa~ncha (five).
The second kind of perceptual knowledge that was discussed
by VP corresponds to the internal perceptions in the
mind. Mind, however, is not a sense organ in the vivaraNa
advaitic tradition. Mental imaginations or intuitions
may be considered to be a ‘sixth sense’,
but they do not come under direct perceptual processes.
The internal perceptions include pleasure and pains,
emotions of anger, love, jealousy etc, which are also
perceived and cognized as direct and immediate, as they
arise in the mind.
The attributive content of these emotions or internal
perceptions do not come from sense input, although sense
input could give rise to these internal perceptions. For
example, I may see an object of my love or hate in front
of me, by perceptual process. That object may then trigger
emotions of love or hate because of my attachments, and
these emotions themselves then constitute internal perceptions.
The attributive content of the these emotions do not come
directly from the sense of vision, but arise because of
the emotional attachments that I have. Any vRRitti that
is formed with attributive content of emotions is then
immediately illumined by witnessing consciousness as it
rises in the mind. The perceptuality condition is met
when the existence of these emotions is united with the
consciousness of the subject.
VP also states here that the senses of smell, taste
and touch apprehend their respective objects while remaining
where they are. The senses of vision and hearing, on
the other hand, have the wider capacity to travel to
objects that are distant. We have already pointed out
that, as per the current understanding of the science,
sound and light do travel by wave propagation and these
are then received by the eyes and ears to form the attributive
content of the object. Without the loss of generality,
we can say that eyes and ears do have a broader scope, where
the objects do not have to be in contact with the sense organ
as is the case with taste and touch. The objects of smell are
somewhat tricky in the sense that we smell the fragrance emitted
by the object out there away from the nose, but the ‘fragrant
molecules’ from that object have to reach the nose in
order for one to be able to perceive the attributive smell
of that object. However in all cases, the vRRitti that forms
should have the attributive content from the sense input in
order for there to be direct perception of the object that
is external to the mind. (Here, we are using the mind as the
reference for defining what is external and what is internal.)
Proceed to the next
essay.
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