This course discusses Nyaya Siddhanta Muktavali, a book written by Visvanatha Panchanan which gives the basic principles of the New Schools Nyaya and Vaisheshika.
Description:
The Nyaya and Vaisheshika schools of thought can hardly be differentiated except for a historical study of their lines of development. Nyaya has completely taken over the conception of a realistic universe as elaborated in the Vaisheshika. Nyaya-Vaisheshika is analytical in its methods. The Nyaya school was founded by the sage Gautama, also called Aksapada literally meaning ‘eye in the leg’. Kanada is the founder of the Vaiseshika school. Kanada lived in the forest and sustained himself by picking up grains (kana). That is how he got his name.
The mind has the nature of not being in the present. It is always in the past or future. The characteristic of the senses is that they can only function in the present. The nose cannot smell a fragrance that is coming tomorrow or that was there yesterday. We can only hear through our ears what is being spoken now. If you can hook your your sense onto something it likes, the mind goes along with that sense into the present moment. This is the easiest way to bring the mind into the present state.
