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The 49th sutra further clarifies and qualifies the knowledge, and that is the importance of this particular sutra. It says that
श्रु॒ता॒नुमानप्र॒ज्ञा॒भ्याम॒न्यवि॒ष॒या विशे॑षार्थ॒त्वात् ॥ १.४९॥
Śrutānumāna-prajñābhyām anya-viṣayā viśeṣārthatvāt ॥ 1.49 ॥
Śrutānumāna-prajñābhyām anya-viṣayā viśeṣārthatvāt - Śruta is heard, what is heard. Anumāna is reference, inference. Prajñā is the ordinary potentiality, cognition. Prajñābhyām means from. So the knowledge or the cognition which comes from śruta and anumāna, that is bhyām, from śruta and anumāna, the knowledge came from, or the knowledge came from, śruta and anumāna, and anya-viśaya. Anya is other. Viśaya is the subject. Viśeṣārthatvāt, it is the viśeṣa -ārthatvāt. Viśeṣa is special significance, it has a special significance. So putting the śruta, a rough translation will be: this knowledge is of a particular thing, that is a special, viśeṣārthatvāt. This knowledge is of a viśeṣārthatvāt, this knowledge is of a special particular thing, unlike knowledge from authority or from inference. So this knowledge is special and particular thing, Viśeṣārthatvāt, not like the knowledge from śruta and anumāna. So this knowledge is a special and particular thing, and it is not like the knowledge we get from what we hear and what we infer.
It is very important śruta, mostly, many times in all our normal bearings, the knowledge we gain or the knowledge we get is by śruta and anumāna, what we hear and what we infer. This inference can be after hearing, or the inference can be after reading, or even the inference can be after contemplating. Even without hearing, you can read a book, read a sentence, infer something, or you do not even read, just contemplate and come to the inference. So all these are covered in this particular word, śrutānumānaprajñābhyām. But the important phrase is viśeṣārthavat - विशेषार्थवत्. Viśeṣārthavat means because of having a particular object. So the knowledge which we get is only perfect, true, but that is so perfect, it is not only true and correct, that knowledge cannot be misused. That knowledge cannot be wrongly used, because it has obtained through, not from the normal tools of knowledge, it has come from the special and particular knowledge, viśeṣārthatvāt. It is a very, very important understanding which is needed. The knowledge cannot be misused. Not only cannot be misused, it is incapable of misusing, only right and correct.
In the previous sutra, one prominent characteristic of this is on the refinement that was pointed out, which we have seen, and this sutra is clarified further, that prajñā has been further clarified. Not only clarified, further qualified it is. The distinction between intellectual and intuitive knowledge, there it was intellectual, and here it is intuitive knowledge. So knowledge we get by information, by hearing and by inferences, it is all intellectual understandings. But viśeṣārthatvāt, anya-viśeṣāt, it is an intuitive knowledge.
And as was pointed out in the seventh sutra about the pratyakṣa-anumāna-āgama, there are three sources of the right knowledge, pratyakṣa, anumāna, and āgama, the direct, cognition, inference, and the testimony. All these three are available in the realm of the intellect. But there is a chance of unreliable reports. Pratyakṣa can be unreliable, means in one sense entire pramāṇa can be unreliable, because basically they are received through sense organs, upakaraṇas, indriyas. Indriyas are involved in that. So these reports by themselves do not give the right and correct knowledge. That is why there is a need to clarify and qualify, and that is what is done in this particular sutra.
We hardly realize what an important part inference, reference, and decisions play in our day-to-day work, day-to-day gain of knowledge. A very common example, just which comes to all of us, must have undergone. Suppose we are sitting in a train and the train stopped in a station, and there is a platform on the left side. On the right side there is another train which stopped. Now you feel a moment, looking at the train on the right side, when the train was moving, which tracks in the mind, whether my train is moving. To confirm which train is moving, we look at the left side of the platform, which is not moving. The platform cannot move. Then we conclude, we come to the conclusion, inference, that oh, my train is not moving. It is not only the knowledge that the train in which we are sitting is not moving, the knowledge that only the other train is moving. This is understood. So reference and inference are part of our testimonies, day-to-day. Similarly, people have a confirmed ticket, especially which we see in the railway. We have a confirmed ticket. Even then, holding the ticket in the hand, people go to the reservation chart and check, and then even the same chart which is pasted on the compartment, again they refer. Then again we go and sit in our own place of reservation. Still there is anxiety in the mind, and after the TTE comes, checks, and puts the tick mark, the anxiety is lost. See how many processes, systems, for inference and testimony we undergo. The example is just given. Unknowingly, casually, normally, we are affected, we are dependent on the inferences and the testimonies.
But the need for taking the help of inference and testimony arises because of the insufficient knowledge, and this insufficiency is due to the absence of the whole, the totality in the background. It is true that intuitive knowledge may not be perfect and may lack the precision and detail of the intellectual knowledge, but as far as it goes, it is free from the possibility of error and distortion. A very important distinction. A dim light in a big room may not give a clear picture, but it enables things to be seen in their proper proportion and perspective, which is better than groping in the darkness of intellectuality.
Swami Vivekananda, commenting on this particular sutra, writes beautifully, which is worth to be heard and read. "The idea is that we have to get our knowledge of ordinary objects by direct perception and by inference and from testimony of people who are competent. By people who are competent, we always mean the rishis, or the seers of the thoughts recorded in the shastra, in the vedas. According to them, the only proof of the scriptures is that they were the testimony of competent persons. Yet they say the scriptures cannot take us to realization. Even the vedas and the upanishads say that we can read all the vedas and yet we will not realize anything. But when we practice their teachings, then we attain to that state which realizes what the scriptures say, which penetrates where reason cannot go and where the testimony of others cannot avail. This is what is meant by this particular aphorism, that realization is real religion, and practice and all the rest is only preparation. Hearing lectures or reading books or reasoning is merely preparing the ground. It is not religion." That is why somewhere Swami Vivekananda says "religion is realization." And this is what this particular sutra describes and enlightens us, and puts an important dimension of practice and realization at a higher pedestal, which is always a higher pedestal than mere intellectual gymnastics.
Let us see the next sutra.Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः|| To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------- These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji. Audio Link - https://youtu.be/HzK9mLRmevs?si=GpZM0eNVhYWf2t3z
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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