118. SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS 135

SAIVA BASIS OF ABHINAVA'S ÆSTHETICS 135

to time and space, when it is desired to be made an object of practical utility. Hence, when there is no such desire, it is free from the external time and space. The Âbhasavadin holds that, in ordinary life, an expres- sion such as "jar" is used for an external object, which is a configuration of many abhasas looked upon as one. It is unity in multiplicity. Its apprehension as unity presupposes perception of multiplicity and is due to appearance of all, that is separately cognised, on a common basis. The configuration is called after that particular constituent of it, which, because of the attitude of the perceiver, figures as the most important. Thus, according to him, ordinary object of cognition is a whole. But this whole admits of analysis. Analysis, however, will reveal only a whole within a whole, Âbhasa within Abhasa. And the constituents so revealed differ, 312/8 1 according to the analysing individual's inclination or ten- dency, attitude and knowing capacity. For instance, if we analyse our experience of a jar, we find that though ordinarily it is taken to be one Âbhasa, the object of knowledge, it embodies as many Âbhasas as there are words, which can be used with reference to it by various analytical perceivers, looking at it from different points of view. To an ordinary perceiver it is a combination of Âbhasas of roundness, materiality, externality, blackness, existence and so on. But if a scientist were to do an atomic or electronic analysis of the same, how many percep- tual acts will he have to do and how many words will he require to describe the results of his analysis ? Can any body say that the atoms or electrons are not the constituents of what is ordinarily taken to be one thing ? The Âbhasavadin, therefore, holds that ordinary object of cognition is a collocation or configuration of a certain