9 The Nature of moksa in the nyTiya and vaiSesiktr 



systems. 



By Vanamali Chakravartti. 



In an article headed M Optimism in ancient nyaya" which 

 I contributed to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 

 December 1905, Vol. I, No. 10 (N.S.), it was pointed out that 

 the conception of moksa (liberation, salvation) in ancient nyaya 

 was to be distinguished from the vaisesika and neo-naiyayika 

 conception of it, inasmuch as the former contained an ele- 

 ment of pleasurable feeling, while the latter was utterly devoid 

 of every element of consciousness. I had to support this view by 

 a single passage * from the Samksepa Sankara Jaya of Madha- 

 vacarya. I have since come across three more passages to the 

 same effect, and these I propose to bring together in this short 

 note. 



The first passage is from the nyaya section of the 9^s?T- 



f^RTOW*, a work which is attributed to Sankaracarya 

 himself. 



Chap. VIII, 41-43. 



"In the condition of final release there will be the expe- 

 rience of eternal bliss without (any perception whatsoever of) 

 sense-objects. I choose to be a fox in the beautiful Vrindavana 

 in preference to that altogether blissless soul-deliverance, which 

 has been taught by the vaisesikas, who by means of sacrifices, 

 prescribed in the vedas, and by means of the grace of the 



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