Indian Philosophy v2.c24.s19.50

v2.c24.s19.50

The Vaiśeṣika theory of the soul is practically identical with that of the Nyāya, though a direct perception of the self where the self is both the perceiver and the perceived is not admitted.⁸ Comparison does not help us. Āgama, or revelation and inference, are our only sources of knowledge.⁹ The existence of the self is inferred from the fact that consciousness cannot be a property of the body, sense-organs or the manas.¹⁰ In addition to the qualities of pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, volition, and knowledge, the facts of expiration and inspiration, the closing and the opening of the eyelids, the healing up of bodily injuries, the movement of the mind and the affections of the senses are urged as evidence for the existence of the self.¹ In its natural state the self is devoid of intelligence, as in pralaya. It has cognitions of things when it is connected with the body.² Consciousness is sustained by the ātman, though it is not an essential or inalienable characteristic of it. By means of manas the soul knows not only external things but also its own qualities. Though the soul is all-pervading, its life of knowing, feeling and activity resides only where the body is.