Yogacara idealism

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

Satya Upadhya <satya_upadhya at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>--> As i understand, if you wish to work with pramanas you have to admit
the
>independent existence of external objects (or else you have to change your
>defn. of the pramanas, as Dignaga in fact does). If you insist that
>ideas-and ideas alone- are real, and still wish to work with pramanas, then
>you do have a problem.

How so? Do expand upon the following terms - "independence",
"existence", "externality", "object-ness"; and then upon the
phrase "independent existence of external objects". In what
sense does one who talks of the pramaa.nas have to accept it?
How would you disprove the statement that it is only an idea,
to think that external objects exist independently? Or do you
mean to say that only the naivest of naive realists can work
with pramaa.nas? The merest gandha-maatra of idealism would
close the door to pramaa.nas, wouldn't it?

Vidyasankar