38. HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 41

HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 41

directed (Prameya), (iii) the resulting state of knowledge (Pramiti) (iv) means of knowledge (Pramāņa), and (v) connecting links between the subject and the object. For, the soul does not come into immediate contact with the object. Its contact is mediated by (a) Manas and (b) Senses.

INDIVIDUAL SOUL OR SUBJECT.

There are as many individual souls as there are cogni- sing subjects. Each is an eternal and all-pervasive substan- tive being. It is pure substance, possessing the qualities of desire, aversion, volition, feelings of pleasure and1 pain and knowledge. It cannot be directly apprehended. It is only inferrable through its transient qualities. For instance, when a person has known from experience a certain object to be source of pleasure, there arises in him at a subsequent time desire to acquire it. This can be explained only on the basis of assumption of a subject that persists through the fleeting time, retains the idea of pleasantness of the object and longs for it. It experiences the external world when it comes into contact with it through the mediating links of Manas and senses and consequently quality of cognition is produced in it.

MANAS AND SENSES.

If the soul is all-pervasive, it is always in contact with everything and, therefore, it should always know every- thing. It should be omniscient. To get out of this difficult situation, into which Nyaya is landed, because of its admission of the all-pervasiveness of the soul, it admits that objective cognition is dependent on two additional factors (i) Manas and (ii) Senses. Manas is atomic and eternal. It is a mediating link between the soul and the senses. It is the means of know-

1. N. D. 19, 6