When we recollect a thing experienced in the past, it is a case of memory. When we find a lost thing we have the cognition of the form 'That certainly is this'; it is a case of recognition. On meeting again the person formerly seen, we recognise him 'That is this Candrakanta'. This is an instance of recognition.

Memory is caused by the past experience, while recognition is caused by both the actual experience and the memory operating together. When the impressions left on the mind by the past experience of a thing are revived by certain conditions, there takes place the phenomenon of memory of that thing. In recognition, the object recalled is actually before our eyes. When, on seeing a person, one recollects that he is the same person whom one saw before, it is a case of recognition. The actual experience of the thing or person is as much the cause of recognition as the impression left on the mind by the former experience of the same thing or person. In memory, the cognition takes the form 'That clock' 'That man' and the like. Thus, memory refers to its content by a form of the pronoun 'that'. This means that the object is not present before the cogniser. In recognition, the cognition takes the form 'That neces­sarily is this'. The element of 'that' indicates memory and the element of 'this' indicates actual experience. Thus recognition is a synthetic unitary knowledge generated by the joint operation of actual experience and memory. Recognition of the form 'that necessarily is this' is the recog­nition of identity.

Someone has acquired the knowledge that Bos Gaveas (gavaya) is like a cow. On seeing it he remembers this piece of knowledge. As a result he comes to have the cognition 'This Bos Gaveas is like a cow', in other words, he recognises the similarity of this Bos Gaveas with the cow that he has already seen. When we happen to see an object which is similar to another that has already been experienced, the cognition of the form 'this is like that' emerges. This is a case of recognition of similarity. Similarly, when we happen to see an object which is dissimilar to another that has already been experienced, we come to have the cognition of the form 'this is dissimilar to that'. This is a case of recognition of dissimi­larity. There are also other forms of recognition.