How to Investigate the Reality?

Now that we have seen, what is the reality, the difference between perception and reality and the faulty nature of our senses, the most obvious question that comes up is – If our senses are faulty, how do we investigate the reality? We already had discussed the notion of using our intellect in brief in the previous discussion, let’s now look at it in a bit detailed manner.

Ancient Indian Philosophers called Rishis claimed that there are three main ways to prove if something is true. First one of it is direct perception. So, if you see something written here yourself you don’t need anyone else’s confirmation on the same. This is direct perception or Pratyaksha Pramana. Second is Inference. There are certain things that we already know. When we try to know something by comparing or relating it to something that we already know, then that method is called proving by inference. A classic example is a fire on the hill. When someone sees smoke on a distant hill, he readily infers that there is fire on the hill, because as per our knowledge smoke is an effect of fire. This is also called Upmana Pramana.
Man holding a round magnifying glass
Man holding a round magnifying glass
The third one is called proof by authority or Shabda Pramana. This can either be words of a person who holds authority for certain topics or texts that are considered the authority. At first, it seems quite absurd to just believe something because it is. But, if you look closely you’ll see most of your knowledge if not all is because of this believing and you always try to prove things by reference.

For example, when you feel sick and you go to a doctor. He tells you to open your mouth, uses his stethoscope and tries to listen to your breathing through your lungs or touches at different points in the concerned body part. Then he tells you the name of some disease and you believe it normally. Why? Because you consider him as an authority. You know he has studied medical science and he knows what he is doing or saying.

Another example will be your textbooks. You’ve never seen electrons, protons or anything as such. But you believe it. Why? Because you consider those text books as authority. You know they have been revised number of times to tell you the right thing as close as possible. And you believe that those things are already been tried, tested and found to be true.

Vedas are the teachings that began to get compiled in India before anything else of such kind ever happened anywhere in this world. Vedas literally means knowledge. When we say just knowledge and not knowledge linked with any topic as knowledge of so and so, we mean Absolute Knowledge. So, Vedas contain absolute knowledge about the reality and were considered the supreme authoritative texts in India.

Image Credit: www.freeimages.co.uk

Comments

  1. Unknown13 August 2017 at 17:01

    Analogy well explained!! Point absolutely clear and nothing which people would not connect to. Nice one

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rule of Uno

Image
Eligibility: 7+ Years Number of Players: 2 to 10 CONTENTS: 108 cards as follows 19 blue cards - 0 to 9 19 green cards - 0 to 9 19 red cards - 0 to 9 19 yellow cards - 0 to 9 8 "Skip" cards - 2 each in blue, green, red and yellow 8 "Reverse" cards - 2 each in blue, green, red and yellow 8 "Draw 2 Cards" - 2 each in blue, green, red and yellow 4 "Wild" cards 4 "Wild Draw 4 Cards" OBJECT: The first player to play all of the cards in his/her hand in each round scores points for the cards their opponents are left holding. The first player to score 500 points wins the game. SET UP: Each player draws a card. Player with the highest point value is the dealer. Shuffle the deck. Each Player is dealt 7 cards. ACTION CARDS: Draw 2 Cards - When you play this card, the next person to play must draw 2 cards and forfeit his/her turn. If this card is turned up at the beginning of play, the first player must draw two cards. This card may only be played o
Read more

Why And Who Should Seek The Knowledge Of The Self?

Nārada approached Sanatkumāra and said, 'Teach me, Venerable Sir,' He said, 'Come to me with what you know. Then I will teach you what is beyond that.' Venerable Sir, I know the Ṛg Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, Atharvaṇa as the fourth, the epic and the ancient lore as the fifth, the Veda of the Vedas, propitiation of the Fathers, the science of numbers, the science of portents, the science of time, logic, ethics and politics, the science of the gods, the science of sacred knowledge, the science of elemental spirits, the science of weapons, astronomy, the science of serpents and the fine arts. This, Venerable Sir, I know. But, Venerable Sir, I am only like one knowing the words and not a knower of Self. It has been heard by me from those like you that he who knows the Self crosses over sorrow. To him he then said, 'Verily, whatever you have here learned is only a name.' - Chāndogya Upaniṣad VII. 1. 1-3 (Translation by S. Radhakrishnan in The Princi
Read more

Where to Start?

Image
Spirituality is a vast area to investigate. It is very important to plan your way through it. An unplanned endeavor into spiritual realm may cause more harm than benefit. Today we will talk about where should be start if we are serious about understanding things that actually makes sense. Start Now When we talk about spirituality, people at once talk about either God or Soul or other metaphysical things those are difficult to experience. This is a mistake. This is just like discussing Integral Calculus to a nursery kid. I believe that the first thing we all should focus on is our own self. Let's start understanding ourselves first. Our own self is the most readily available specimen or tool we have. Also our own self is the only thing we use to understand anything external. So to understand ourselves seem most logical to me. We all should start from asking questions like what are we doing. What do we want? Why do we want that? etc. You'll see that these few ques
Read more