TARKA SASTRAM - THE SCIENCE ON REASONING

 

Tarka Sastram is a system also called Nyaya System.  Tarka Sastram means the science of reasoning.  This system is the work of the great sage Goutama.  It is a realistic philosophy based mainly on logical grounds.  It admits four separate sources of true knowledge namely प्रत्यक्षम् = Perception, अनुमानम् = Inference, उपमानम् = Comparision, and शब्दः = testimony. This system is very useful in developing the powers of logical thinking and rigorous criticism in its students. This system is having other names Nyaya Philosophy, NyayaVidya, Tarka Sastram and Anveekshikee= the science of critical study.

Theory of Knowledge

Through these four separate sources of true knowledge namely प्रत्यक्षम् = Perception, अनुमानम् = Inference, उपमानम् = Comparision, and शब्दः = testimony this Tarka Sastram is highly helpful to understand about आत्मा = the self, शरीरम् = the body, इन्द्रियाणि तथा तन्मात्राः = the senses and their objects, बुद्धिः = cognition, मनः = mind, प्रवृत्तिः = activities, दोषाः = mental defects, प्रेत्यभावः = rebirth, फलम् = the feelings of pleasure and pressure, दुःखम् = suffering, and अपवर्गम् = the freedom from the suffering.  These are considered as प्रमाणानि = Pramanas or the methods of knowledge

Theory of Physical World

प्रमेयम् = Prameyam is the world of objects of knowledge. According to Gouthama, “As already seen”, these are: the self, the body, the senses and their objects, cognition, mind, activities, mental defects, rebirth, the feelings of pleasure and pressure, suffering, and the freedom from the suffering.  These are also such objects as द्रव्यानि = substances, गुणाः = qualities, कर्म = motion, सामान्य = the universal, विशेष = particulariy, समवायः = the relation of inherence, and अभाव = non-exixtence.  All of these प्रमेयाणि = Prameyams or knowables are not to be found in the physical world, because it includes only those objects that are either (भूत) physical or somehow belong to the world of physical nature.

Some important works of the Tarka System

1. NyayaSutram of Gouthama.

2. NyayaSutraBhashyam of Vatsyayana.

3. TatthvaChintamani of Gangesopadhyaya.

4. Dheedhithi of RaghunathaSiromani.

5. Gaadhaadharee of Gadhaadhara.

6. ThaathparyaTika of Vachaspathi Misra.

7. Nyaya Kusumanjali of Achaarya Udayana.

8. TarkaSangraha with Deepika of Annambhatta.

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