Page 10 - All India Magazine Oct-2018

Jnanam or Knowledge
There are four operations in the Indian method of
knowledge. First, the inquirer purifies his intellect by the
stilling of passion, emotion, prejudgment and old sanskaras
or associations. Secondly, he subjects received knowledge
to a rigid scrutiny by sceptical vichar, separating opinion
from ascertained truth, mere conclusions from facts. Even
the facts he takes as only provisionally true and is prepared
to find his whole knowledge to be erroneous, misapplied
or made up of half-truths. Thirdly, he experiments in order
to get upalabdhi or personal experience. Fourthly, he again
uses vichar in order to ascertain how far his experience
really carries him and what he is or is not justified in con-
cluding from it. Lastly, he turns the light of the vishuddha
buddhi on the subject and by inspired discrimination arrives
at jnanam. The conclusions of the vivek he does not ques-
tion, because he knows by experience that it is a fine and
accurate instrument. Only, he is on his guard against
mistaking vichar for vivek, and is always prepared to
balance and amplify his conclusions by fresh truths he had
not considered and to find that there is another side to truth
than the one with which he is familiar. He does not, like
the European scientist, wed himself to previous generalisa-
tions and theories or consider every fresh enlargement of
knowledge on new lines charlatanry and imposture.
CWSA 1: 501-02

Rites, ceremonies, system of cults and worship
The rites, ceremonies, system of cult and worship of
Hinduism can only be understood if we remember its fun-
damental character. It is in the first place a non-dogmatic
inclusive religion and would have taken even Islam and
Christianity into itself, if they had tolerated the process. All

10 All India Magazine, October 2018