Talk:Nyaya:Science of Reasoning
By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami
Nyāya is also called Tarka-śāstra and its author is Gautama. Its main purpose is to establish by reasoning that the Kartā or Creator of all this world is Parameśvara. Indeed, it seeks to prove the existence of Īśvara through inference. Reasoning thus has a major place in Nyāya.
Logic or reasoning is of course indispensable to any study. The Vedas make a statement and Mīmāṁsā determines its meaning.
Though we have faith in the Vedas, doubts arise in our minds regarding the meaning of scriptural passages. If these doubts are cleared through reasoning the message of the Vedas will be affirmed. When we construct the marriage paṇḍal we test the strength of the bamboo or timber posts by trying to shake them. In the same way we must subject truths to proper tests so as to confirm them. All logical reasoning must be accepted but it must be firmly rooted in authority. Also, arguments must not be of a carping character, stemming from the urge to be merely contrary.
When Śaṅkara was about to depart from this world his disciples requested him for a brief upadeśa. It was then that he imparted his succinct teaching in the form of five stanzas which go by the name of Upadeśa-Pañcaka or Sopāna-Pañcaka. Dustarkāt suviramyatām – Śrutimatastarko'nusandhīyatām is a line from it. It means that you must give up the habit of captious arguments and that in dealing with a question you must employ proper reasoning, duly respecting the views of the Vedas.
Without reason to guide us it is like roaming aimlessly in the forest. But reason must be founded on authority. Nyāya finds the meaning of Vedic passages in this manner.
Kaṇāda too created a Nyāya-śāstra: it is called Vaiśeṣika. One object is distinguished from another on the basis of the special characteristics or "particularities" of the two. The name Vaiśeṣika is derived from the fact that it inquires into such particularities. There is a good deal of science in this Nyāya-śāstra. Ātmic matters like the individual self, the cosmos, Īśvara, mokṣa or liberation are examined (in Vaiśeṣika mokṣa is known by the name of apavarga).
The Nyāya inquiry into truth is through the four pramāṇas or instruments of knowledge: pratyakṣa, anumāna, upamāna and śabda. Pratyakṣa is direct perception, what is perceived by the eyes and the ears and so on. It is anumāna or inference that is central to Nyāya. What is anumāna? We see smoke rising from the summit of a distant mountain: we notice only the smoke, not the fire, which is concealed by the rock perhaps. But even if we do not see the fire we may infer that the forest has caught fire. This is anumāna. Here the fire is called sādhya and the means by which we infer its presence is sādhana, liṅga or hetu.
In our Vedāntic system we must reflect upon the teaching imparted by our guru. This is manana and it means going over an idea (in this case the instruction received from the teacher) again and again in the mind, making use of our own ability to reason. Here anumāna is of help. Is it not through inference that we are able to know things that cannot otherwise be perceived? The individual self and the Paramātman are not directly perceived by our senses. Nor do we know the nature of liberation or how to attain it. We have to know such things by inference. Knowing an object on the basis of another known object is anumāna. When we hear the roar of the thunder we know, by inference, that there are clouds (that the sky is overcast).
By performing Vedic works (let us take it) we have become pure within. We have also found a good teacher and we have faith in his instruction. But, if we happen to hear something different from what he tells us, doubts naturally arise in our minds. These doubts have to be cleared; they must be discussed and a decision arrived at. Here we must have recourse to a pramāṇa (source or instrument of knowledge) like anumāna or inference. Both Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika conduct inquiries based on anumāna.