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NAIURE AND FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE
Memory is not prama or valid knowledge, since it does not refer to presented objects. It may be of two kinds, namely, true and false (yathārthamayathārtham). True memory is in accord with the real nature of the objects remembered, whereas false memory does not tally with the real character of the remembered objects. In waking life we have both these kinds of memory. In dreams our cognitions are false memory-cognitions. Dream is a kind of memory that is not in agreement with the real nature of the cognised objects. All knowledge, however, including dream, refers to some real object; only dream is a false memorial representation of the real.
We may represent the Nyaya classification of knowledge by the following table
Knowledge (buddhi) Knowledge
T Presentation (anubhava)
1
Valid (prama)
Non-valid (uprama) True
Doubt Error (samsaya) (viparyyaya)
(yathartha)
23
Memory (smrti) T
Perception Inference Comparison Testimony (pratyaksa) (anumāna) (upamāna) (sabda)
Hypothetical Argument (tarka)
False (ayathārtha)
1 TB., p. 30
2 Samskaramātrajanyam jñānam smrtiḥ, TS, p 32,
3. Memory and Dream
Memory (smrti) is knowledge of one's own past. It is a representative cognition of past experiences due solely to the impressions produced by them. 2 It is thus different from recognition (pratyabhuña) which, according to the Nyaya,
