Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...

, Paroksha refers to mediate knowledge or indirect cognition, mediated by sensory-intellectual apparatus, in which thought systems psychological insights that have evolved in the context of two levels of realities, empirical and transcendental, are gained through both direct cognition and indirect cognition of things that exist in the universe.

Etymology

This

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

expression made up of two words – ''Para'' (beyond) and ''Aksha'' (eye), literally means beyond the eye i.e. beyond the range of sight. Therefore, it also means invisible, remote, hidden or mysterious. The

Aitareya Brahmana The Aitareya Brahmana ( sa, ऐतरेय ब्राह्मण) is the Brahmana of the Shakala Shakha of the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to the tradition, is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya. Aut ...

VII.30 gives its meaning as "mysterious" and "mystery" – "''tan nayogrohan santan nyogrodhan ity achakshate parokshena, paroksha-priya iva hi deva''" (The nyogodha is called nyogrodha after the mysterious (etymology) for the gods like mystery.)

Understanding some schools

Caravakas

The

Caravaka Charvaka ( sa, चार्वाक; IAST: ''Cārvāka''), also known as ''Lokāyata'', is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embrace ...

school of thought which does not believe in causation and its universality, advocating naïve realism and empiricism rejects

inference Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word ''wikt:infer, infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deductive reasoning, deduction and in ...

as a means of valid knowledge because it depends upon ''

vyapti a Sanskrit expression, in Hindu philosophy refers to the state of pervasion. It is considered as the logical ground of inference which is one of the means to knowledge. No conclusion can be inferred without the knowledge of vyapti. Vyapti guara ...

'' i.e. the universal concomitance between the middle term and the major term, and because one ''vyapti'' is based on another ''vyapti'' thus involving an infinite argument. According to this school ''vyapti'' can only be known through perception of perceptible things alone and therefore, perception is the only means of valid knowledge. This school does not consider imperceptible things to exist.

Buddhism

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

is believed to have directed all monks and scholars to thoroughly analyze his words and not adopt them for the sake of respect. He taught rationalism and trust in one's own reasoning and belief, and spoke about the distinction between the mere reception of truth and the knowledge of truth which involves rational conviction. The later Buddhist thinkers such as the Sautrantikas, opposed to the

Yogacara Yogachara ( sa, योगाचार, IAST: '; literally "yoga practice"; "one whose practice is yoga") is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through ...

s who deny the reality of external objects reducing them to cognitions, advocating indirect realism recognized the reality of external objects which produced their own cognitions and imprinted their forms on them as being basically perceptible; they developed the doctrine of impermanence into the ontological doctrine of momentariness

Dharmakirti Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 6th or 7th century; Tibetan: ཆོས་ཀྱི་གྲགས་པ་; Wylie: ''chos kyi grags pa''), was an influential Indian Buddhist philosopher who worked at Nālandā.Tom Tillemans (2011)Dharmakirti Stanford ...

considered the so-called external objects as mere sensations, that all object-cognitions are due to the revival of the sub-conscious impressions deposited in the mind which are not excited by external objects. The

Madhyamaka Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhis ...

s regard external objects and subjective cognitions to be equally essenceless with Sunya as their eternal basis and reject the plurality of external objects and internal cognitions because of their relativity. Buddha’s teachings lend support to the three valid cognizers which are the three consciousnesses that comprehend the manifest (visible phenomena), the slightly hidden phenomena or ''kimchid-paroksha'' (which can be inferred) and the very hidden phenomena or ''atyartha-paroksha'' (which is known through the power of belief).

Jainism

The followers of the

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

School of Thought consider knowledge as emanating from the soul to be '' Pratyaksha'' (direct cognition) and the knowledge which is inherited from the senses, ''Paroksha'' (indirect cognition); paroksha-knowledge is gained with the help of the mind and senses (''Mati'') or through what is heard or learnt ('' Shruti''). According to this school Mediate knowledge (Paroksha), which is Valid knowledge (

Pramana ''Pramana'' (Sanskrit: प्रमाण, ) literally means "proof" and "means of knowledge".anumana) which is based on ''vyapti'' derived induction and Testimony is the knowledge of objects derived from words of reliable persons, which are all secondary sources that involve conceptualization of the object of knowledge by means of rational or analytical thought processes. Thus, Paroksha is second-hand knowledge.

Hinduism

Advaita

According to the

Advaita ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' ( ...

school ''Paroksha'' consists in the intellectual assent to a stated proposition and '' Aparoksha'' consists in the actual realization of that proposition. In ''Paroksha'' there is the distinction between the subjective concept and the objective reality which that concept represents in consciousness but which distinction is irrelevant in the case of '' Aparoksha'' knowledge. A man is said to attain ''paroksha'' (indirect) wisdom when he knows (theoretically) that

Brahman In Hinduism, ''Brahman'' ( sa, ब्रह्मन्) connotes the highest universal principle, the ultimate reality in the universe.P. T. Raju (2006), ''Idealistic Thought of India'', Routledge, , page 426 and Conclusion chapter part X ...

exists; but he is said to attain ''sakshatkara'' (direct cognition) when he knows (or realises) that he is himself Brahman. Then, he becomes

Jivanmukta A ''jīvanmukta'', literally meaning ''liberated while living'', is a person who, in the Vedānta philosophy, has gained complete self-knowledge and self-realisation and attained '' kaivalya'' or ''moksha'' ( enlightenment and liberation), thus ...

Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, ...

conveys the ''aparoksha'' Absolute in a ''paroksha'' way which is a valid way because while referring to certain facts about Brahman ''paroksha'' does not refer to unrealities. In

Srimad-Bhagavatam The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...

(XI.xxi.35) it refers to the indirect (''proksha'') statements of the

rishi ''Rishi'' () is a term for an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mentions in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "great yogis" o ...

s. The

s of the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute th ...

are found to speak variously about Brahman in an indirect manner (''proksha-vada'') e.g. "''The eye, O Emperor, is the Supreme Brahman''" or "''This being who is in the right eye is named Indha. Though he is Indha , he is indirectly called Indra, for the gods have a fondness, as it were, for indirect names, and hate to be called indirectly''". Thus, ''paroksha'' is "This", and ''aparoksha'' is "That" of the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

. ''Paroksha wisdom'' or mediate knowledge, which is right perception, does not liberate a person from

Saṃsāra ''Saṃsāra'' (Devanagari: संसार) is a Pali/Sanskrit word that means "world". It is also the concept of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental belief of most Indian religions. Popularly, it is the ...

but it is confirmed by ''Aparoksha wisdom''. The ''paroksha-vada'' (indirect injunctions) of the Vedic rishis indirectly leads one to the path of liberation Srimad-Bhagavatam (XI.iii.44). In the

Bhagavad Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; sa, श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, lit=The Song by God, translit=śrīmadbhagavadgītā;), often referred to as the Gita (), is a 700- verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic ''Mahabharata'' ( ...

XIII.12-13,

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

tells

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

about that which is to be known, and also about that by realizing which one attains immortality. This is ''paroksha wisdom'' by which the attention of the listener is aroused and the fruit of such knowledge is indicated viz - the knowledge of the knowable beginningless attributeless Brahman gaining which one gains the ''aparoksha wisdom'', the knowledge of the Knower of the field, Brahman who exists but transcends all verbal expressions, who cannot be expressed in terms like existence and non-existence. Shankara explains that Krishna objectifies the acosmic through the process of superimposition and sublation by designating Brahman as the field-knower by employing the adjunct, field, variously pluralised due to hands, feet, etc.

is to be realised as existing. And, Badarayana (

Brahma Sutras The ''Brahma Sūtras'' ( sa, ब्रह्मसूत्राणि) is a Sanskrit text, attributed to the sage bādarāyaṇa or sage Vyāsa, estimated to have been completed in its surviving form in approx. 400–450 CE,, Quote: "...we c ...

III.ii.15) states that like light, the non-dual formless Brahman in connection with

Upadhi Upādhi () is a term in Hindu philosophy meaning "imposition" or "limitation". In Hindu logic, an upādhi is the condition which accompanies the major term and must be supplied to limit the too general middle term In logic, a middle term is a t ...

s (limiting adjuncts) appears to have a form.

References

{{Reflist Hindu philosophical concepts Jain philosophical concepts Buddhist philosophical concepts