A review on the components of Prajna

Abstract

The word Prajna generally refers to know, the wisdom, the intelligence, the sense of discrimination and the judgment. It can be compared with the whole process of discrimination, retention and recalling capacity of an individual. Dhee, dhriti and smriti are considered to be types of prajna. These are also termed as Prajnopastambha and are nothing but the different stages of Prajna. The buddhi which sees the objects as they are (samata darshana) is dhee. The buddhi which restrains (niyamana) is dhruti. And the buddhi which is capable of remembering is smriti. The ability of discrimination of the object perceived is attributed to the function of dhee, while the decision making at that situation is guided and regulated by dhruti. And the retrieval of fast experiences in order to perform further action depends on Smruti. Buddhi also have the same synonyms as that of Prajna viz. Dhee, Prajna, Mati etc. Thus we can assume that the Buddhi and Prajna refer to the same. While the term ‘Medha’ refers to the higher intellect and synonymous to Prajna. Modern science describes the acquisition of knowledge has following cognitive domains such as encoding, storage, and retrieval which refer to the components of prajna. The article deals with conceptual study of Prajna, its components, its comparative terms in contemporary sciences, discussion and conclusion.