UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Samanyalaksana pratyaksha is an extraordinary perception in which universals are directly presented through their instances. By observing many individual cows, one comes to perceive the common nature that unites them, namely cowness. Nyaya treats this as a distinct kind of perception that allows abstract classification. Therefore the type of perception in the stem is called samanyalaksana pratyaksha.

Option A:
Option A is correct because samanyalaksana literally refers to the mark of generality, indicating that the focus is on grasping what is common across cases. It explains how we can have cognitive access to universals, not just to particular objects.

Option B:
Option B, jnanalaksana, concerns perception mediated by the trace of a previous cognition and typically explains cross-modal awareness, not the direct apprehension of universals through many instances.

Option C:
Option C, yogaja, is yogic perception arising from intense meditative practice and is not limited to universals in the way described.

Option D:
Option D, laukika, refers to ordinary sense perception and does not specify the special presentation of universals that characterises samanyalaksana.