[Advaita-l] How is an object perceived.
Kuntimaddi Sadananda
kuntimaddisada at yahoo.com
Tue Apr 14 04:24:54 EDT 2020
Chandramouliji - PraNAms
Just some thoughts.
I think that the idea of mind going out with thesenses and envelope the object comes from puurva meemamsa which Advaita alsoadopted it. The mind going out applies only for a sense of sight and hearing. For the sense of touch, taste, and smell, the object comes in contact with the sensesdirectly. The senses are part of anthaH karana and hence direct input to themind contributes to its vRitti.
In the final analysis, a vRitti, related to theobject, forms in the mind with contents of the vRitti corresponds to the sensory input. Ifthe senses are defective then the input is also defective (say color blind)then the contents of the vRitti depend on the sensory input than the objectcontent per sec. This is also the reason when errors in perception can occur since the sensory input is incomplete or defective.
In addition, when we see an object we get only the frontal view of theobject and not total view. If the mind grasps the whole object then the whole object should be seen. Also,we get a stereo image due to the eyes displacedby 7 deg. In a way, it is more accurate to say that the information coming to the eyes than the sense of sight going out with the mind to wrap the object.
The basic postulate of Advaita isthe consciousness that 'I am' unites with the existence of the object as imagedin the vRitti for me to be conscious of the existence of the vRitti andtherefore conscious of the existence of the object out there.
The rest is mechanics which candiffer without violating the basics of Advaita. Hence Kena says -consciousnessis revealed in every thought - pratibodha viditam matam. That is what I feel.One can always contest this. VP has provided what has been understood up to that point in contrast to the other theories of perception.
Hari Om!
Sadananda
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