Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
the excitation from without. If he had noticed this important feature of sensation, he would not have described the gross elements, fire, water and the like, as transformations of the subtle tan-matras of our sensa
tions.
The correspondence between particular sensations and gross elements is equally irrational. It is said:
"The tan-matra of sound, possessing the attribute of sound, is produced from ahamkara; then, from the tan-matras of sound, accompanied by ahamkara, is produced the tan-matra of touch, possessing the attributes of Sound and Touch. In a similar manner, the other tan-matrus are produced, in the order of their mention, by the addition of one more attribute at each successive state" (Preface to Vol. IX of the Sacred Books of the Hindus, p. VIII).
That being so, sound is the first and smell the last evolute among the senses. But this is not borne out by observation which shows that 'sound' is not enjoyed by all living beings in the animal kingdom. If sound were a necessary ingredient in the composition of the remaining senses, then those animals which are not endowed with the sense of hearing should be devoid of senses altogether; but this is not the case. The same is the case with the mind, the central organ of action and sensation; for it is not possessed by all living beings, being absent in all cases of life below the five-sensed organisms and in some cases even among them.
It is needless to criticise the Sankhyan view any further; for, as its very inception shows, it is a substitution of surmise and speculation for science and scientific thought. But as the Sankhyan view seems to have influenced religious thought to a considerable extent,