View source for According to Vedic system, there are three kinds of evidences: direct, and . . . pratyaksa . . . pratyaksa means direct. And then aitihya and then sruti. Sruti. Sruti means hearing from the authority

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[[Category:According]]
[[Category:Vedic System]]
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[[Category:Pratyaksa]]
[[Category:Meaning of Sanskrit Words]]
[[Category:Sruti]]
[[Category:Hearing from Authorities]]
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<h2>Lectures</h2>
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<h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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According to Vedic system, there are three kinds of evidences: direct, and . . . pratyakṣa . . . pratyakṣa means direct. And then aitihya and then śruti. Śruti. Śruti means hearing from the authority. Just like here we see that there is mind. Everyone knows mind, but it is confirmed by the śāstra because we are hearing from Kṛṣṇa, which is called śruti.
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[[Vanisource:751031 - Lecture BG 07.04 - Nairobi|751031 - Lecture BG 07.04 - Nairobi]]
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Kṛṣṇa says that first of all our material conception of life . . . we are in the material world. We see everything as stone and wood and earth and water and fire and everything. We have got the capacity to see all these things. Here Kṛṣṇa says that this bhūmi, this earth; āpa, this water; anala, this fire; vāyu, air; kham, the sky, ether; mana, mind . . . that is still subtle. Up to ether you can see, but the mind, which is still finer than the ether, mana, that you cannot see. (drinks water) Mind, everyone knows you have got mind, I have got mind, but you cannot see the mind, neither I can see your mind. Here is the subtle. First gross: bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ, up to ether. Ether also we cannot see, but we can understand here is ether by (claps) sound. As soon as there is sound, this is the understanding of ether. Ether, vāyu, you can touch, but you cannot see. Then fire, you can see. And then water, you can see also, and then earth—gross. From the finer, we are coming to the gross. Begins from the finer.

So finer than the ether is the mind, and finer than the mind is intelligence, ego. And finer than the intelligence and ego is the soul. So how you can see soul? You cannot see even the material things, as soon it becomes finer. How you can see the soul? They cannot see, but soul is there. Therefore when the soul departs from the body we see the bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhi-ahaṅkāra . . . ([[Vanisource:BG 7.4 (1972)|BG 7.4]]). Buddhi-ahaṅkāra. The man, the dead man, is lying. The gross thing we are seeing, but the mind, intelligence, ego, which is carrying that soul, that we do not see. The how transmigration of the soul takes place, that we have no knowledge, poor fund of knowledge. We can simply think gross. Jaḍa-darśana. It is called jaḍa-darśana. Even there is no sūkṣma-darśana. Although there is mind, but we cannot see. Then how you can see the soul?

So this is the defect of modern education. So what is beyond your perception, sense perception, that you have to hear. There are two kinds of knowledges: by practical experience, direct perception; and by hearing from authority, aitihya. According to Vedic system, there are three kinds of evidences: direct, and . . . pratyakṣa . . . pratyakṣa means direct. And then aitihya and then śruti. Śruti. Śruti means hearing from the authority. Just like here we see that there is mind. Everyone knows mind, but it is confirmed by the śāstra because we are hearing from Kṛṣṇa, which is called śruti. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa says in the Second Chapter:

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:dehino 'smin yathā dehe
:kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
:tathā dehāntara-prāptir
:dhīras tatra na muhyati 
:([[Vanisource:BG 2.13 (1972)|BG 2.13]])
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Asmin dehe, "Within this body, there is the proprietor of the body." That you have to learn by hearing. If you want to see immediately, "Let me see where it is in the . . ." oh, your so-called scientific research cannot help you. You have to learn it simply by hearing from the authority. This is called śruti, śruti-pramāṇa. Śruti-pramāṇa, evidence from śruti.

So the Vedic knowledge is called śruti. You have to learn things beyond your perception simply by hearing from the authorities. So Vedic knowledge is the authority. Why we accept Vedas as authority? Because there is the perfect knowledge. I have discussed so many times the authority of the Vedas, accepting cow dung as pure although animal stool is impure. But Vedas accept that cow dung is pure; we accept it, "Cow dung is pure." This is called śruti-pramāṇa. Śruti-pramāṇa means the real knowledge, perfect knowledge, is coming from the supreme perfect, Kṛṣṇa. That perfect knowledge, after creation . . . Brahmā is the first created being, so Brahmā was instructed the śruti, perfect knowledge, by Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the original spiritual master. Vedānta-vid. He says, Kṛṣṇa, in the Bhagavad-gītā:

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:sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
:mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca
:vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
:veda-vid Vedānta-kṛd ca aham 
:([[Vanisource:BG 15.15 (1972)|BG 15.15]])
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So Vedic knowledge means the instruction given by Kṛṣṇa to the first living being, Lord Brahmā. Janmādy asya yataḥ ([[Vanisource:SB 1.1.1|SB 1.1.1]]). From Kṛṣṇa everything is born, everything is emanated. He says in the Bhagavad-gītā that ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate ([[Vanisource:BG 10.8 (1972)|BG 10.8]]). Everything is coming from Him. So the first engineer of this universe, Lord Brahmā, he comes from Kṛṣṇa. Not directly Kṛṣṇa, but from Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. There is viṣṇu-tattva: Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Catur-vyūha, Nārāyaṇa. Dvitīya-catur-vyūha: again Saṅkarṣaṇa; from Saṅkarṣaṇa, Mahā-Viṣṇu; Mahā-Viṣṇu to Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, then Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu; in this way. So Kṛṣṇa is the origin. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ. Sarvasya means even this Mahā-Viṣṇu, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, Nārāyaṇa, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Aniruddha, Pradyumna—everything. Then again the material world—Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara. Then from Brahmā so many demigods, in this way, this way. Therefore He is the ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ. This is the point. And the knowledge is also coming from Him. Knowledge is coming from Him.
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