Indian Philosophy v2.c25.s2.3

v2.c25.s2.3

Prabhākara describes how we infer the existence of the manas and the senses. Our cognitions are ephemeral in character, and have both material (samavāyikāraṇa) and immaterial causes (asamavāyikāraṇa).¹ The material cause of cognitions is the self, and its immaterial cause cannot subsist in the cause of the self, since the self is uncaused. It must therefore subsist in the self itself. What inheres in a substance is a quality, and so the immaterial cause of cognition is a quality. If temporary qualities arise in an eternal substance, it must be due to contact with other substances. Since there is no evidence that the other substances inhere in still others, they are to be regarded as eternal. Perception, which is a positive kind of cognition, is a specific quality of the self. For such a quality to belong to eternal substances, the immaterial cause must be in the form of contact with some other substances. Such substances are either all-pervading, as space and time, or atomic. Contact with all-pervading substances cannot account for the varied nature of our cognitions. So the immaterial cause of cognition is contact with atomic substances, which is brought about by the action of motion of the atoms themselves. The atomic substance which resides in the body ensouled by the cognising self is manas, and none other could contain the substratum of the immaterial cause of the cognition of which the self is the material cause. The action of the atomic substance in the body which helps to bring about the contact is due to its contact with the self, which, in every act of cognition, puts forth an effort towards it. But, while manas can bring about such effects as pleasure, pain, it cannot give rise to qualities like colour, smell, etc. For the apprehension of these, it stands in need of other organs.² Through the contact of the external objects with the sense-organs mediated by the manas, the soul gets to know the outer world. The relation between the soul and the manas is brought about by merit and demerit, but the soul is not regarded as simply passive in its attitude to manas. Manas is included among the senses, since it perceives mental states like pleasure, pain, desire and aversion.³ It is argued that we would have a simultaneous cognition of all things at once, if we were not dependent on manas and the sense-organs.