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INTRODUCTION.
and Avadhi' of the Muni', and the sense-perception of the ordinary living beings in the world. The second category comprises mostly what has been called the indirect, or mediate, knowledge. Leaving aside the first class of knowledge with which we have no concern in the present work, we notice that the indirect, or mediate, knowledge ilself is of two kinds, namely, (1) that which is heard from others, and (2) that which is intellectually inferred. It is in respect of these two kinds of non-immediate knowledge that the greatest care is to be observed in accepting the statements of others or the deductions of our own reason.
A number of tests have been laid down by the wise for the purpose of testing the accuracy of both these kinds of indirect knowledge. One of these tests, and the one with which we are mostly concerned at present, is the relativity of knowledge. Obviously, everything exists in relation to a number of other things, and is liable to be influenced by them. Hence, knowledge to be complete must describe it with reference to its relations with other things.
Similarly, when things are described by men they are described generally from some particular point of
1. 2.
A kind of telepathy. A Jaina ascetic.
