[Advaita-l] On rationality; was "Vedas are not apauresheya according to the Vedas ?"

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

> 
> There are two categories of sabda pramana - pauresheya and apauresheya.
> All faith based systems accept pauresheya texts. Different sects of Hinduism
> are no exception though our texts may be superior in content. But Hinduism
> does not stop there. It bases all knowledge on apauresheya texts. Apauresheya
> is established using anumana and defended using tarka. 
 
Defended using tarka, yes. Established using anumAna, no.
 
The reason is exactly the same as what I mentioned earlier. An attempt to *establish*
apaurusheyatva using logic can lead to the same logical trap in which pUrva mImAMsA
catches nyAya thinkers.
 
Consider the analogous situation. nyAya establishes ISvara as author of Sruti, using an
anumAna based reasoning. nyAya defends this conclusion using tarka. Yet, for pUrva
mImAMsA, such an argument is faulty, because the anumAna used by the nyAya thinker
can be picked apart and rejected. In fact, strictly speaking, pUrva mImAMsaka-s reject
the need for any ISvara at all. 
 
A similar process of criticism and rejection can be applied to apaurusheyatva also, *IF*
this were to be established using anumAna. For any great logician on earth, remember
there will be an even greater logician who will find holes in his arguments and reject
them, for one reason or the other. 
 
Vidyasankar