Talk:Dṛstānta
By Swami Harshananda
Dṛstānta literally means ‘that by which the conclusion is seen’, ‘illustration’.
All the systems of religious philosophy give importance to logic and reasoning to prove their theories. They widely follow the pattern of citing a ‘dṛṣṭānta’ or illustration. For example:
‘The hill is fiery since it is smoky.’
It can be explained as ‘Wherever there is fire, there is smoke.’
Sādharmya-Dṛṣṭānta[edit]
If we give the dṛṣṭānta or example as: ‘the fire in the kitchen oven.’ It is a positive example. It is called as ‘sādharmya-dṛṣṭānta’.
Vaidharmya-Dṛṣṭānta[edit]
The same point can be proved by giving a negative example too. ‘Where there is no fire there is no smoke.’ This is called ‘vaidharmya-dṛṣṭānta’.
Validity of Dṛṣṭānta[edit]
For a dṛṣṭānta to be valid, it should be acceptable to both, the common man and the philosopher.
References[edit]
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore