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Content Writing with the Nyaya Philosophical Perspective

Transition always leaves many questions, especially when it is related to career and job. One, who has different obstacles and stumbles in life, has to face enormous queries from friends, family persons and relatives, but the person having multidimensional skills and aspirations to soar higher with different experiences never gets affected by those questions and moves continuously. The same thing happened to me in my career due to the transition and transformation in the subject, job, etc. However, it had multiple causes, and ultimately it was all about my passion and the quest for novelty in every step of life. 

Currently, I am working as a content writer, and it fills me with immense pleasure and satisfaction when I am able to arrange, express, and juxtapose my accumulated words with my writing skill. Whenever I create a few lines with the heart-touching morpheme, I get the transcendental feeling and ultimate bliss, and that’s why, I never get irritated with my work responsibilities unless there are no external interventions. 

Once, I thought that why should not I represent my story of transition in verbal form, where I can express and elicit all concepts through which I got the benefits in writing, and I am able to articulate my thoughts. I always feel that whatever skills I am using or whichever methods I implement to write were unmanifested in the meaning of the philosophical concepts, especially in the Nyaya philosophy, and all these imparted various techniques and rules, which prompted me to write and solve various doubts emerging in mind.  

Content Writing is an art of representing the desired words or sentences in a precise form so that anyone, especially customers can easily understand and proceed to choose the products which are described and advertised through the language. 

I write for different products and services, and I have to assimilate the subject matter first. Because unless knowing the products or services, and their specification, which is supposed to be revealed or elicited through precise language, I can’t write explicitly. 

To explain this concept, I recalled the methodology of writing specifications which was common and widely used to enumerate and explain different parts of the mechanical component or machine during my engineering. Similarly, epistemology, the theory of knowledge explained in the Nyaya Philosophy cannot be escaped which says, "Saparakarkam Gyanam Savikalpakam"

It explains qualified cognition and qualified cognition means that when you have the knowledge of the object with its entire quality or property, its relationship with the surrounding, qualifier-ness which means the qualification or property of that object which makes it specific, etc. After having all the relevant knowledge pertaining to that object, product, service, etc. we can explain them in a precise way that can impart complete information about these things. It is also said as a structured reality2 which can be articulated or revealed in a sentence.  It’s the basic feature of content writing as per my experience from previous years. Especially while writing the website content3, these concepts are widely used because a website must be qualified with its services, features, terms and conditions, etc. So, it must be named precisely, and all the services delivered through the website must be known previously before writing the website content. It fulfils the meaning of qualified cognition and is applied as well. There are different aspects to enhance qualified cognition and its representation. And most of them have been discussed and explained in the Nyaya philosophy. 

After assimilating something properly, it’s time to represent them in front of the audience and it is a common process not only for content writers, but it can also be considered by any intellectual i.e., those who are involved in research work or other professions where writing is the prominent tool. In this scenario, a famous maxim always comes to mind which is often repeated by respected Dr V N Jha, sir, in almost all his lectures, that is "Pada-Vakya-Pramanagya".  It is the central eligibility to become a reliable, authentic, and eminent scholar or writer as well. It means one must have mastery over three subjects to assimilate and represent lucidly and these are Grammar (Pada), the science of interpretation, Mimamsa (Vakya) and Nyaya Philosophy or logical, analytical, reasoning, (Pramana). 

Expertise in grammar means one must have complete knowledge of sentence formation, where all the words must be arranged as per the rules, and it must not have any defects like syntax errors etc. Because every word and sentence has some specific meaning if arranged in a specific way and has proximity with other words. 

To support the grammarian and make their implementation more precise, Nyaya Philosophy explains the cause of verbal cognition which is more relevant to the present perspective and the significance of the content writing because of its ever-greenness, and these are (Akansha Yogyata Sannidhi Vakyartha Gyan Hethu) [5]

Strengthening the necessity and importance of grammar, Nyaya Philosophy explains the causes of verbal understanding with this aphorism. It means, that verbal cognition has all these causes, and their effects make verbal knowledge more precise and perfect for the listener or the decoder. 

The word expectancy means the intention of the speaker that what he wants to speak or write must be clear and be presented explicitly. The second word “compatibility” means, the word used by the writer or speaker must have the capability to present actual meaning. And the final word “proximity” means the words or morpheme used in a sentence must be juxtaposed with each word so that their combination must present the perfect meaning. Overall, all these factors must be considered and presented perfectly, then only the content created by a writer will be proficient, perfect, and precise to convey the actual and desired meaning. 

In the current perspective, where a content writer has to represent the sentence, word, couplet, or whatever is related to the specific products or field for what he is writing, or promoting the word, or morpheme, the sentence must be in an appropriate manner that it can connect the people or targeted audience. Where the word “targeted audience” means to define or enlist the customers who can prompt with that statement as per their requirements. It is also said that the word has the capacity to impress and fascinate them, so that they will choose the explained product only, or it can make a positive impression on their mind. To accomplish this process or to reach that goal, the second word of the aphorism is enough and perfect which is compatibility. It means to accomplish such an action, a perfect word or sentence must be written that has the capacity to express the expectancy, the word which precedes the aphorism (Akansha). So, the selected or written sentence must fulfil this requirement to convey the desired meaning, which is the product description, promotion, specification, etc. Therefore, the selection of words as per the requirements is necessary. The last one, proximity or juxtaposition of the words is necessary to perform this task well. 

All these concepts helped me a lot to move forward in the field of content writing because previously, it was known as passion or a specific skill of representation through which intellectual persons used to articulate their feelings, emotions, the story of social changes, contemporary perspectives, etc. Overall, it was an art of representing themselves and still enormous scholars are relevant with their written materials even after their departure. Their works and written materials reveal the way to intellectuals, aspirants of literature, science, philosophy, etc. and it is only due to their writing. 

These days it has become a prominent tool to enter this profession as I am also there as a writer with a similar designation, and I always recollect these rules and concepts of Nyaya philosophy through which I got lots of benefits.

In these ways, there are many works associated with and required for this profession, especially in IT and Digital Marketing, where website content writing, copywriting and SEO-based writing are prominent. To accomplish this task, I use the specific model of Nyaya Philosophy and it is invariably used for perfection. The entire Nyaya Philosophy was based on this model, and this is (Uddeshya Lakshana Parikshana) which is an enumeration, definition, and critical examination. 

The first two words are prominent, and it is widely used by almost everyone, because while writing website content, it is necessary to list out all the sections, which are to be mentioned, explained, and revealed.  And this model is nothing but enumeration which means a proper listing or arrangement of things in a chronological way. After the enumeration, the definition of the terms must be there, which means to define or illustrate every section. It is said by this knowledge system that the definition makes our understanding more precise and lucid. However, the definition may not be used exactly that means in every section, the product description, specification or quality may be there to attract the visitors, but all these come under the different segments of definition only. Therefore, moving with this process that accomplishes the basic requirement of copywriting also and it says "Dosh-Traya-Rahit-Ashadharana-Dharma-Laskshnam

The above aphorism means that the definition means an uncommon property which must be free from three defects i.e., over-application, narrow-application and non-application. 

A copywriter or content writer must follow the rules and avoid these three defects in his writing that can ruin the essence. It is necessary to make the sentence free from all these aforesaid defects and ambiguity. which means, there must not be any chance of a lack of communication between the writer and customers. To understand these rules and avoid those defects, let’s know them profoundly.  

Narrow application: the word narrow application means, there is some space of friction loss between the encoded sentences and decoder i.e., reader, visitor, customers etc.  Since language or sentences is the only tools that can impart the desired information from the writer, speaker, orator, etc to the decoder, listener, customers etc. Hence, the sentence must carry a piece of perfect information with compatible words and precise meanings. 

Over application: it means the surplus of words or their meaning which is more than desired thoughts or sentences. A writer, especially a copywriter must avoid these defects and must write as per the requirements which is enough to convey the desired meaning. It’s a challenge and also an art of representation where minimum words are used to reveal a broad meaning and at the same time the written content is supposed to be captivating and impressive that can attract the audience. 

Non- Application: it’s the third category of aphorism or factor of definition that must be considered and avoided while creating a sentence or caption. It means the lack of desired meaning, which is supposed to be conveyed or written. 

All these categories of the definition and their specific segments have been helping me while writing. Because ever since I started writing for myself or my organization, these things automatically came into my mind. However, it might be happening due to experience, deliberating skills, and having an essence of literature that maps reality and help to build structured content to present an explicit image only and only with the help of a certain language, but it’s the concept of Navya-Nyaya Language that must be assimilated by everyone having the desire to have a creative pen and heart of the writer. It helps arrange your thoughts and emotion in a lucid form where each and every word speaks if arranged properly. 

Although it happens for the maximum time that I have to write in a confined way or with the limitation of the word because it is said that we must care for the intuition of the targeted audience and their understanding. Therefore, I write accordingly and consider that what are the products, and their consumer level, and finally I select the word. Because, unless there is a remembrance of referent through the morpheme, a verbal cognition will not take place, as the Nyaya Philosophy says:

PadaGyana Tu Karanam Dwaram Tatra Padardhadheeh
Shabdha Bodhah Phalam Tatra, Shaktidheeh Sahkarini IBhasha Parichhachada 81

The verse says that the knowledge of morpheme is the cause of verbal understanding, and the recollection of or object through which the word is related directly, that is the operation of verbal understanding. So, it means the word we use must be recollected by the audience easily and they can feel the pleasure or prompt to the desired action of the writer or organization. This concept imparts me deliberating nature and helps me think about the product, words related to this, and a fair, keen, and lucid presentation. Ultimately it reminds me of the same sentence that is always uttered by respected Dr V N Jha sir, that is “Language maps reality and language reveals the reality”. 

To follow and implement this operation, I have been accumulating words from multiple sources because as per the statement of my grandfather Vidyavachaspati Pantid Maninath Jha, that is “We are involved in the business of word and our words itself are our world”. 

Overall content writing is significant forever because of its everlasting requirements in the word of humanity in different forms and I learned it with the guidance of some distinguished Philosophers I.e., Dr V N Jha sir, Dr Kishor Nath Jha, and one more person whom I met last year and he helped me to move ahead in professional career and he is Mr Abhijeet Banarjee Sir.

Bibliography 

1. Tarkasamgraha of Annam Bhatta, English translation by Dr V N Jha, published from Cninmaya International Foundation
2. TarkaBhasha By Keshav Misha, English Translation by Dr Sir Ganganath Jha, MLBD
3. The Nyaya Sutra of Gautam English translation by Dr Sir Ganganath Jha, MLBD
4. Nyaya Parichai, Hindi Translation by Dr Kishor Nath Jha, Choukhambha Vidyabhavan
5. Bhasha Parichheda by Vishva nath Nyaya Panchanan

22-Jul-2023

More by :  Saurabh Jha

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