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4.1 PramanasBy Peter Snyders © 8th April 2024If you would like to research spiritual knowledge yourself, you may wish to look up the word pramana. If you would like to take it step by step as we are doing, look up the first pratyakasa which means perception.In our first (or previous) blogspot on Perception we spoke of external sources of knowledge. These are what we perceive through our external senses. But is everything we see always true? What if we are travelling in a car and see some distance ahead of us, that the road is covered with water? When we get to the place where we thought that we saw some water, there is no water at all? Where did the water go? Or perhaps we should ask: What did I see?What we saw was an illusion [a misleading image presented to the vision: something that deceives or misleads intellectually: perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature]. It was a hot day and black, like the tar of the road, absorbing heat quickly. When it cannot take any more heat, it dissolves all the extra heat into heat waves. That is what we saw as water: heat waves.Now the explanation for such a perception is caused and can be explained by external means. All we have to do is research the topic or ask someone who also travels by car.The same applies to the many deceptions in the written documents. In them the white writers deride peoples from non-white countries. Do we just believe everything that we read, or hear? Science and religions – and especially also spirituality, want us to look up things that we come across for the first time.&nbsp;If we can’t we should read books widely. This would expose us to more views on the subject. We will then be able to - also externally – argue the correct treatment about the indigenous peoples and remove the contempt and laughter at our forefathers as being backward, primitive, savage and brute among other insulting limited extents of their vision.What if we cannot test or prove anything externally? What if a person walks down a road and sees a man coming along about 100 hundred meters away and somehow s/he just knows that this person is going to do some evil to /her/him? What would you do? This is called internal perception. Women and spiritual practitioners have this perception more developed than the masses.It is a form of accurate knowledge, but we can only prove what we are feeling spiritually. This part of perception or pratyaksa is called ‘passive or internal knowledge.’ Internal perception is described as an inner sense. This correct perception does not change. You may remember it as intuition.Intuition is the spiritual part of truth. This kind of knowledge is found in scriptures but many people who do not have much intuition manifested within themselves, believe what they read in so-called “holy books” as the truth. As one becomes more spiritual, the intuition (inner teaching) will develop, and we will be able to experience the passive truth more directly. This is why all true scriptures tell their viewers to test, prove, examine and explore everything before they believe it.* &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; * &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;* &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;* &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; * &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; * &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; *The second science and study of Pramanas is called Anumana or Inference. It is the means of reaching a new truth from one or more observations and previous truth/s. Reason is a main deductive principle. An example of Inference is when one infers that there is a fire somewhere where smoke is seen. This is an easy example because it is well known that we cannot have smoke without fire.&nbsp;The method of Inference is explained by Indian texts as consisting of three parts:1. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Hypothesis (pratijna). “A Hypothesis is an assumption or concession made for the sake of argument: an interpretation of a practical situation or condition taken as the ground for action: a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or empirical consequences.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary.2. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;A Reason (hetu). A Reason is a “statement offered in explanation or justification: a rational ground or motive: a sufficient ground of explanation or of logical defence: something (as a principle or law) that supports a conclusion or explains a fact: the thing that makes some fact intelligible: the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking esp. in orderly rational ways.” &nbsp;Merriam-Webster Dictionary.3. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Examples (drshtanta). An Example is “a parallel or closely similar case esp. when serving as a precedent or model: an instance (as a problem to be solved) serving to illustrate a rule or precept or to act as an exercise in the application of a rule instance, model.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary.All but one of the Hindu philosophies accepts this pramana. Again, allow us to remind you that Buddhism and Western Science use Perception and Inference as the only two methods for providing proof.

4.1 Pramanas

4.1 Khoikhoi&nbsp;By Peter Snyders, 15.10.2025, in association with Unison Music and Literary Publications.The Khoi, meaning “people”, were one people with the Bushmen before the migration of the latter, some 130,000 years ago, when the mega-drought hit them. The Bushmen migrated south and entered the modern northern border of South Africa some 20,000 years ago.&nbsp;After the drought passed, the Khoi (people) began a pastoral culture with Nguni cattle. Having raised their standard, they called themselves Khoikhoi, meaning “people (of) people,” &nbsp;“men of men,” or “real people.” Their extensive herding probably caused grazing problems, so the Khoikhoi (spelt Khoekhoe by the Namas in Namibia) also migrated south.&nbsp;Between 300 CE and 500 CE, they entered South Africa from Botswana in two ways: The first group came through the Kalahari, keeping west all the time, all the way down to the Cape. The second group went south-east into the Highveld and then southwards to the south coast. At the Cape, the Khoikhoi found the Bushmen who had remained hunter-gatherers.&nbsp;Wiki: Khoikhoi 2011 p.2At his death, the Khoikhoi father gave everything to his eldest son, so the inheritor gave one or two sheep and/or cattle to his younger brothers. If his brothers worked for him, they could progressively build up a stock of their own, and, when they had sufficient stock, they could break away and be on their own.Should there be discord between the brothers, the Khoikhoi's younger brother, who had the biggest respect for liberty, would go away from the clan and attach himself to the hunter-gatherer group in the area. This hunter-gatherer group, the Khoikhoi, called San (pronounced Saan), which meant hunter-gatherer, but it also meant an inferior state to their own “men of men.”The Khoikhoi not only knew edible plants, but they could also produce salves, ointments, powders, and infusions from plants that they used to heal their people. While being secretive about their herbs, Kolb managed to learn about buchu and dagga, as well as aloes, wild sallow leaves, wild garlic, marshmallow, wild fennel, and wild figs being medicinal plants.Before Kolb, European visitors to the Cape portrayed the Khoikhoi as being lazy, ugly, rude, stinking, and shameless people. They competed by depicting the Khoikhoi as savages endowed with nothing but bestiality [status of a lower animal] and stupidity. To this, Kolb said that they ‘wrote useless, deceitful and false things on the Hottentots and their country.’&nbsp;Nigel Penn and Adrien Delmas: Peter Kolb and the circulation of knowledge about the Cape of Good Hope p.27In Kolb’s The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, pp.302-3, he states that the Khoikhoi doctors succeed where the ablest doctors in Europe cannot. The Khoikhoi doctors often apply herbs and roots in very difficult cases with wonderful success. They bleed, cup, make an amputation, or relocate with the most dexterity - all with a common knife, a horn, and a bird’s bone.On page 332 of Kolb’s The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope, he says that the mutual affection of the Khoikhoi character is that they are the most friendly, the most liberal, and the most beneficial people to one another that have ever appeared on earth. The Khoikhoi man cannot enjoy himself in anything except with his wife unless there is one or more of his countrymen to partake with him. They are all kindness and goodwill to one another.They are charmed with opportunities of obliging one another. If a Khoikhoi’s assistance is required by one of his countrymen, he runs to give it. If his counsel is asked, he gives it sincerely. Is his countryman in want? He relieves him, according to his ability, with the utmost readiness. One of the greatest pleasures of the Khoikhoi lies in their gifts and good offices to one another.&nbsp;Kolb’s The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope p.333But a traveller's tale must also be marvellous and entertaining, and so the naked truth was often garbed in quaint, fictitious fancies. These voyagers, in any case, never stayed long enough to acquire more than a very superficial knowledge of the people, with whom they could not even communicate through the medium of a common language.General Introduction by I Shapera of Early Cape Hottentots p.ii In and about the Cape Peninsula were the Gorachouqua and Goringhaiqua, with their offshoot the Goringhaikona. Further north along the west coast, from the neighbourhood of Table Bay to Saldanha Bay, roamed the Cochoqua, who at the time when the Dutch settlement was founded, were the strongest of the local groups. Beyond them and extending to the Olifants River were the Little and Great Chariguriqua, while still further north lived the Namaqua. To the east, beyond the Hottentots Holland mountains, were the Chainouqua. Still further east, but known only casually or by name, were the Hessequa, Hankumqua, Chamaqua, Omaqua, Atiqua, Houtunqua, Chauqua and Chobona, all said to be very rich in cattle and some in precious stones as well.General Introduction by I Shapera of Early Cape Hottentots p.iii-iv Later expeditions verified the existence of some tribes known to Van Riebeeck only through hearsay, but they failed to find others, and added some new ones unknown to him.&nbsp; By the end of the seventeenth century, following on the eastward journeys of Cruse (1668), Visser (1676) and Schryver (1689), it was known with certainty that beyond the Chainouqua lay the Hessequa, in the present district of Swellendam; the Gouriqua, in the vicinity of Mossel Bay and the Gouritz River; the Attaqua, extending north of them to near the present village of George; the Houteniqua, further east as far as the Kromme River; and the Inqua to the north, in the present district of Aberdeen.General Introduction by I Shapera of Early Cape Hottentots p.iv All these groups cast doubt on the assumption that there were only 50 000 Khoikhoi.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

4.1 Khoikhoi

4.1 Kaaps© 29.9.2022 by Peter SnydersFor a diacritical sign, we use the square brackets [ ]. (Some linguists use / /). A diacritical sign says that the sign can only be expressed in one way, not always the way it is spelled. The five primary Kora vowel sounds expressed diacritically are:[a] Afrikaans: dag, wat, ag, kat.&nbsp;[a] English: &nbsp; &nbsp;but, tough, among, oven (Something like [ʌ] alt + 652)[ɛ] Afrikaans: (Alt + 603) vet, bedek, ek, wet[ɛ] English: bet, says, guest, dead, said&nbsp;[i] Afrikaans: riet, iets, fiets, familie[i] English: beet. beat, we, see, sea, key, believe, and people[ɔ] Afrikaans: (alt + 596) nog, kom, bom, som, tog[ɔ] English: bought, caught, wrong, stalk, saw, ball[u] Afrikaans hoed, skroef; [ū] loer, voer (longer vowel alt + 363)[u] English: boot, who, through, to, two, moveIf you would like to type a phoneme, press and hold down the alt key and then press the number.Linguists decided that the first vowel (slight positional nuances excluded) sounding like the a in words such as putt, club, rough, what, and truck besides the [a] words above) should be represented by the letter a between forward slashed brackets, viz /a/. So now, no matter in what language in the world this phoneme (specific sound of a letter) appears, it will always be indicated by /a/ or [a], and we will know exactly how it sounds, no matter how it is spelled.&nbsp;Occasionally, two phonemes are used for the same sound even though the meaning remains the same, for example, the letter j in the Dutch name Jan is written as /j/, and the letter y in English you is written as /y/. To indicate the similarity, such phonemes are written in square brackets, viz. [j] x [y].&nbsp;In Prof. Du Plessis’s book, Kora, all the phonemes are written in bold, which dispenses with the slash or square brackets. Since the variants between square brackets are so minimal, we, too, will be departing from the general agreement and write all our phonemes within square brackets, [a], instead of between forward slashes as in /a/.&nbsp;One more thing before we continue. The diacritical sound [ε] in Kora is simply e (ê in Afrikaans). The [ɔ] is written o in Kora (ô in Afrikaans).The diacritic signs for the other letters will be pointed out later. So our extra English examples of this [a] sound are tentatively written diacritically as: p[a]tt, cl[a]b, r[a]gh, wh[a]t, and tr[a]ck. Similar examples for Kaaps are: w[a]t (what); tr[a]w[a]nte (henchmen); n[a] (to, after); [a]s (ash, if); v[a]s (fasting); s[a]l (shall, will); d[a]t (that); k[a]n (jug, can); l[a]g (laugh]; and [a]skies (excuse me, apologise).The phoneme [a] is also found in Dutch words such as: h[a]llo (hello); midd[a]g (afternoon); [a]vond (evening); d[a]g (day); J[a]n (a name of a person); d[a]nk; (thank you or thanks); bed[a]nkt (resign); [a]lstublieft (please), and m[a]g (power). Can you now find examples in your own speech and writing where this sound [a] appears?Because this [a] is in the inventories (collections of sounds) of both the Dutch and the Kora languages, the Kora speaker immediately recognises the sound and identifies with it. Our examples in English confirm that [a] also appears in English, even if the spelling of the word is often different.In most dictionaries, the word is followed by the diacritical expression, often in slanted brackets (/ /). So, if you know the diacritical signs, you will know exactly how the word is pronounced. So, when Van Riebeeck points to himself as Jan, Djorro recognises the [a] sound. The [j] sound is not in the Kora dictionary, so Djorro changes it to [dj], which means that he pronounces Jan’s name as [Dzã(n).]The [n] sound is also in the Kora dictionary, but Kora is a nasalised language like French. Nasalised consonants, like n and m, for example, is expressed through the nose. If there is a vowel, like [a] for example, occurring before the n or m, the nasalising is transferred to the vowel. This means that the [n] is not needed. The vowel then gets a tilde (~), like [ʤã].&nbsp;Kaaps started as a pidgin where everything had to be expressed in the simplest terms, so Jan would be expressed as [ʤãn]. The nasalisation is also problematic for Pidgin-Kaaps, so the pidgin discarded it. So, unlike Djorro, a Kaapser would say [ʤan]. We have many Kaaps words in our wordlists where j is changed to dj.&nbsp;Remember how Pidgin-Kaaps works: where the sound in a foreign language is not part of the Kora inventory (list of sounds), the strange sound is substituted with a sound in Kora. This will explain many of the words foreign to Dutch. So, the Dutch is [jan], but the Kora is [ʤã], and Pidgin-Kaaps is [ʤan].&nbsp;Remember Matthew 10: 19 – 20? It is God, the Father, who is doing all the talking and adaptations to the Pidgin-Kaaps. Anyone who says bad things about Kaaps, is accusing the Holy Spirit.If you have not yet downloaded Kora, please click onto the link below and do so.https://sahistory.org.za/archive/kora-lost-khoisan-language-early-cape-and-gariep-menan-du-plessis

4.1 Kaaps

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3.1 God Makes Heaven and Earth&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;American Standard VersionBy Peter SnydersIntroduction: Please always bear in mind that we do not teach anyone because no one can be taught. The ability to know is in everyone, but to know, especially true knowledge (truth), we must do as Jesus says: we must ask, knock, and search. &nbsp; (Luke 11:9. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”)&nbsp;Not even the Bible can teach anyone anything unless that person is ready to use his/her understanding. What spiritual Masters and Initiates do is merely point. Like the Buddha says: “Buddha can but point the Way, humankind must work out their own salvation.” So, there is no such thing as ‘just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ The Law of Karma says, “There are no free lunches. You must ask, seek, and knock for what you want.”In Thessalonians 5:21, it says that we must “prove all things; hold fast to that which is good.” The Buddha says nearly the same thing, except that He says that we must test all things. The two masters are complementary because after we’ve tested something, we have proved it to be either right or wrong. The Buddha says that we must believe nothing until we have tested it and found it to be good. He says that we should not even believe Him without testing what He says.We do not have a religion. This gives us the freedom to search for Truth wherever we can find it, irrespective of which Master or religious background it comes from. So, not having a religion of our own and neither belonging to anything (including cults), we cannot convert you to our way of thinking (religion).&nbsp;We are not going to teach you anything because, as we said earlier, we cannot. We will point like a signboard on the road. It says: This way to Cape Town; that way to the Airport; you are now on the M10; if you turn right here, you will be in Turfhall Road.’ The sign (pointer) cannot take you to any of those destinations. You must travel the way and the distance yourself.&nbsp;Or as Jesus says in Matthew 7:24:- Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock (foundation): 25. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock (foundation).&nbsp;26. And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:27. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.”This saying of Jesus is also the crux of everything that we do. We will begin with nothing unless we have a solid foundation. Grades R to III in Primary schools are called the foundation phase. In this phase, pupils learn the alphabet and construct words such as this, say, is, the, of, that, we, do, and so on. They also learn about numbers, units (0 to 9), tens (10, 20, 30, etc.), and hundreds (100, 200, 300, etc.). It doesn’t matter how high up they are – even as professors, they continue to use the words and numbers they learnt in the foundation phase.The foundation phase is in the Primary school. Primary, just like a foundation, means the first in the order of development: it is the first stage of civilization. And as we have said, it is the first of rank, of importance, or value. It is derived from the word prime. Look up this word and add it to the importance of the foundation phase.When we were in high school, the teachers would tell us at the end of the lessons which pages in our textbooks we had to read to get a notion of the next lesson. We have always done this so we could understand, say about 50% of the text.&nbsp;When our teacher gave us the lesson, this background knowledge made it possible for us to understand up to 90% of the text. Then, to fill in the other 10%, we would ask questions about the parts of the lessons we did not yet understand. This took us to 100%. The Supreme Master Ching Hai says that “knowledge without understanding is not knowledge.” It is rote learning. You can get an A in the examinations by just repeating parrot-wise what is in the book or the Bible. When it comes to religion, this type of acceptance of everything we are taught is called blind belief or blind faith. This is why people suffer so much because they do not know what the good is that they should hold onto.So, we will just be pointing. We will put the information there in front of you, and you must decipher it yourself. The Supreme Master Ching Hai says that once you have come to a full understanding of something, then the knowledge becomes yours. So, after we fully understand the whole lesson, the content then belongs to us. It doesn’t matter who wrote the book or who the teacher is.&nbsp;Afterthought. Everything written by us before and after this text was written spontaneously. &nbsp;AI had no input on the content. We do use the free Grammarly whose punctuation correction we have already learnt. It also points out when the number does not agree with the verb. We know this, but it gives us the opportunity to write spontaneously and correct departures afterwards.

3.1 God Makes Heaven and Earth

3 Brief History of KaapsA brief look at the history of Kaaps and the origins of Afrikaans. &nbsp;By Peter Snyders. G&nbsp;Most people who know anything about South Africa (and even those who do not) are familiar with Afrikaans, one of South Africa’s (SA) 11 official languages and a tongue generally accepted as a localised form of Dutch that was born in SA after the Hollanders settled in the Cape.What most people don’t know, though, is the largely untold story of Kaaps, or Cape Dutch as it is also known, and the controversy that exists surrounding this language’s right to be respected and its role in the evolution of Afrikaans.Historically speaking, Kaaps preceded the form of Afrikaans that is officially accepted today, but as it was mostly used by the slaves and workers of the past, it was undermined by a certain class of people.This vernacular is still widely spoken throughout the Western Cape, and efforts are being made to rekindle and restore speakers of the language their rightful dignity.What is Kaaps?This native language was born in the 17th century out of a need to communicate in the Dutch-dominated colony with Cape Town as the capital. During those early days, the region was filled with a mixture of cultures from all over the world, from the indigenous Khoisan and Malays to West African and Madagascan people. Many of these groups were enslaved by the Dutch East India Company and other affluent Netherlanders, and, as a form of revolt, they refused to assimilate and speak the language of the colonists and rather created a new creole to not only communicate with each other but also keep their conversations private.And so, Kaaps was born.As it was partly influenced by a large and devout Cape Muslim population, the first recording of this fledgling language was written in phonetic Arabic and dates to the early to mid-1800s.Regarded as lesser than pure Dutch and often termed kombuis taal (kitchen language), this ‘slave tongue’ carried very little status in the social hierarchy. What is interesting to note is that kombuis means ‘kitchen’ in modern-day Afrikaans, but in Dutch it refers to a galley, which also indicates its use on the ships.Because most of the population of the Cape Colony at that time was made up of slaves, the Pidgin-Kaaps language became widespread. As a result, this vernacular gradually became the first language of the newer generations, eventually outpacing Dutch as a primary language in the area.Kaaps vs. AfrikaansIn 1875, once the descendants of the first Europeans to colonise the Cape had started referring to themselves as Afrikaners (people from Africa), the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (GRA), or The Society of True Afrikaners, in English, made one of the first attempts at standardising the Beskaafde (civilised) Afrikaans language. It was only in the 1991 Afrikaans Word List and Spelling Rules that ‘civilised’ was replaced by ‘standard’ Afrikaans.The society was established in Paarl by a collection of middle-class farmers, small entrepreneurs, artisans, and budding professionals to promote the Cape Dutch vernacular as the lingua franca of the nation in a move that was likely a response to British imperialism. Distancing itself from the language’s origins in the slave quarters, the GRA and its founders made a point of marketing their new standardised dialect (Afrikaans) as the pure language of the Afrikaners, thus branding the Kaaps that it was based on as slang and once again characterising it as a second-class tongue.Even though the standardising process cut out many of the colourful phrases, Afrikaans today is still littered with words, like eina, gogga, kwagga, aitsa, from the Nama languages spoken by the Khoisan and words, like piesang (the original spelling is pisang), from the Malay.This standardised version of the language became an elitist tool of discrimination, even though slavery was abolished, and when the National Party came into power in 1948, it quickly became the language of the oppressor. To this day in South Africa, this stigma is still maintained, although it has been three decades since the nation’s liberation from the Apartheid regime.Meanwhile, despite the standardisation into Afrikaans and the compulsory language of instruction laws created by the Apartheid government in 1925, the community that used the original form of the Kaaps language, still held onto its ancestral background and continued to speak Kaaps, with most not even realising the heritage of the language.Modern-day KaapsAccording to the 2011 South African census results, approximately 49.7% of Western Cape dwellers speak Afrikaans, and most of these speakers are from Coloured communities. While this statistic refers to the Afrikaans in its standard form, Kaaps is what is widely spoken in these communities.Despite its pervasiveness, though, the perception of Kaaps in modern society remains negative: it is considered an uncouth and vulgar version of Afrikaans, and it is often noted that speakers are unfairly judged based on this historic language.This attitude does not exist unchallenged, though. To relay the history of Kaaps and differentiate it from standard Afrikaans, a group of hip-hop dancers, rappers, spoken word artists, and musos came together in 2010 to produce the hip-hop era Afrikaaps. Through jazz, hip-hop, traditional goema, and reggae music, the troupe takes the audience on a journey from the early days of Autshumao (Harry the Beachcomber) to present-day Cape Town to reveal the heritage, culture, and beauty of Kaaps.Not to mention, while very little literature about the history of Kaaps is available in the public domain, social activists are trying to spread the word, not only to give Kaaps its rightful place as an official language in South Africa, but also to restore the dignity of Capetonians and, by extension, South Africans who have been made to believe that their mother tongue is a broken one.We would like to thank Emile YX? for his invaluable contribution to this piece. by Meagan Hamman: Connect with me on Google+!Read more about Cape Town colloquialisms.Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our blog , and if you have a smartphone, add m.capetownmagazine.com to your home screen for quick access on the go!Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, join our Google+ circle, connect with us on LinkedIn, check out our photos on Instagram, and follow our Pinterest boards for updates on what’s happening in and around the Mother City!