"The Indian thinkers generally recognize two distinct stages of perception, indeterminate (nirvikalpa) and determinate (savikalpa). The former is the immediate apprehension of the mere form of an object, while the latter is the mediate perception of the object with its different properties and their relations to one another. The former is an undifferentiated and non-relational mode of consciousness devoid of assimilation and discrimination, analysis and synthesis. The latter is a differentiated and relational mode of consciousness involving assimilation and discrimination, analysis and synthesis. The former is purely sensory and presentative, while the latter is presentative-representative. The former is dumb and inarticulate — free from verbal images, The latter is vocal and articulate — dressed in the garb of verbal images. The former is abstract and indeterminate, while the latter is concrete and determinate. The former is what William James calls "knowledge of acquaintance", and the latter is what he calls "knowledge about".
Indian Psychology Perception by Jadunath Sinha, p. 31
