Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 446

SIX SCHOOLS OF
JOB
THOUGHT
the darkness of sin and ignorance, to free oneself from the
thraldom of passion and from the wretchedness of life with
a view to union with and absorption in the Great Being,
such
the Universal Soul, the Paramatma or Parabrahma
Each is
are the objects aimed at by these various sects.
distinguished from the others by differences of opinion
on the nature of perfect happiness and on the means of
attaining it.
The different forms of knowledge taught in these schools
1
are known by the following names
(1) Nyaya
(2) Ve-
danta, (3) Mimamsa, (4) Sankhya, (5) Patanjala, (6) Vaise-
:
:
,
shika.
The first of these schools, the Saiva, founded by Gau-
tama 2 who came from Tirat, near Patna, on the borders
,
of the Ganges,
i.e.
Logic.
is
held to surpass the others in Tarka-sastra,
It recognizes four sources of
knowledge,
viz.
Pratyaksha, or the testimony of the senses rightly
exercised
(2) Anumana, or natural and visible signs, as
for instance smoke, which is proof of the presence of fire
(3) Upamana, or Upama, or the application of a known
definition to an unknown object still to be defined
(4)
Aptha-sabdam, or the authority of infallible texts, which
authority they ascribe to the Vedas, so far as religion and
the worship of the gods are concerned, and to the maxims
of Gautama, their founder, so far as other matters are
concerned.
After the study of Logic, the professors of this school
lead their disciples to the study of the visible world, and
then to a knowledge of its Author, whose existence, although
invisible, is demonstrable by the process of Anumana.
They gather from the same source proofs of His under-
standing, and from His understanding they deduce His
immateriality.
But although God in His essence is spiritual, they say
that He possesses the power of rendering Himself per-
From
ceptible, and has, in fact, exercised that power.
nirakara, or possessing no form, He has become akara, or
(1)
;
;
;
Nyaya is a compound Sanskrit root, meaning literally that by
which we enter into a thing and draw conclusions.' Ed.
J
This Gautama is not to be confused with Gautama Buddha, the
founder of Buddhism. Ed.
'
'