Text 137]]
The Liberation of Sārvabhauma Bhattācārya
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bone of an animal, and cow dung, although the stool of an animal, are very sanctified. Even though such statements appear contradictory, we still accept the fact that conchshells and cow dung are pure and sanctified on the basis of the Vedic version.
TEXT 137
স্বত্তঃপ্রমাণ বেদ  সত্য বেই কম।।
“ লক্ষণা ” করিলে  স্বতঃপ্রামাণ্য -হানি ছয় ॥ ১৩৭ ॥  ।
svataḥ-pramāṇa veda satya yei kaya ‘lakṣaṇā’ karile svataḥ-prāmāṇya-hāni haya
SYNONYMS
svataḥ-pramāṇa —self-evidence;  veda —Vedic literature;  satya —truth;  yei —whatever;  kaya —say;  lakṣaṇā —interpretation;  karile —by making;  svataḥ-prā-māṇya —self-evidential proof;  hāni —lost;  haya —becomes.
TRANSLATION
“The Vedic statements are self-evident. Whatever is stated there must be accepted. If we interpret according to our own imagination, the authority of the Vedas is immediately lost.”
PURPORT
Out of four main types of evidence—direct perception, hypothesis, historical reference and the  Vedas —Vedic evidence is accepted as the foremost. If we want to interpret the Vedic version, we must imagine an interpretation according to what we want to do. First of all, we set forth such an interpretation as a suggestion or hypothesis. As such, it is not actually true, and the self-evident proof is lost.
Šrila Madhvācārya, commenting on the aphorism  dṛśyate tu  ( Vedānta-sūtra  2.1.6), quotes the  Bhaviṣya Purāṇa  as follows:
ṛ g-yajuḥ-sāmātharvāś ca bhārataṁ pañca-rātrakam mūla-rāmāyaṇaṁ caiva veda ity eva śabditāḥ
purāṇāni  ca yānīha 
 vaiṣṇavāni  vido viduḥ 
  svataḥ-prāmāṇyam eteṣāṁ 
  nātra kiñcid vicāryate