THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

IX. 1. Passing Thoughts439that a man can live without breathing. The principle of proof byexperiment was known to the ancient Indians, but just as theEuropeans, dissatisfied with vicÀra, progressed beyond it to vicÀraguided by experiment, so the Indians, dissatisfied with experimentprogressed beyond it to vicÀra and experiment, guided byViveka, intuition and inspired judgment, gained by a previouspurification of the organs of thought and knowledge. The modernIndians have lost this guide and are compelled to rely onÀptavÀkyam or authority, the recorded opinions of men who hadviveka, or traditions and customs founded on an ancient enlightenment.This is unsatisfactory, because we do not know that wehave the opinions correctly recorded or that the traditions andcustoms have not been distorted by time and error. We mustrecover and go back to the fountain-head.JÜÀnam — There are four operations in the Indian methodof knowledge. First, the inquirer purifies his intellect by stillingof passions, emotions and prejudgments and old saÌskÀras orassociations. Secondly, he subjects received knowledge to a rigidscrutiny by sceptical vicÀra, separating opinion from ascertainedtruth, mere conclusions from facts. Even the facts he takesas only provisionally true and is prepared to find his whole knowledgeto be erroneous, misapplied or made up of half-truths. Thirdly,he experiments to get upalabdhi or personal experience. Fourthly,he again uses vicÀra in order to ascertain how far his experimentreally carries him and what he is or is not justified in concludingfrom it. Lastly, he turns the light of the viÙuddha buddhion the subject and by inspired discrimination arrives at jÜÀnam.The conclusions of viveka he does not question, because he knowsby experience that it is a fine and accurate instrument. Only heis on his guard against mistaking vicÀra for viveka, and is alwaysprepared to balance and amplify his conclusions by freshtruth he had not considered and to find that there is another sideto truth than the one with which he is familiar. He does not likethe European scientists, wed himself to previous generalisationsand theories or consider every fresh enlargement of knowledgean imposture.