Finding the Cure for Today’s Social Ills 203
without argument. That is the principle followed by scholars. If you can
substantiate your statements by quotations from the Vedas, then they are
accepted. You are not required to substantiate them in other ways. There
are different kinds of pramdnas, or evidences. Proof by Vedic quotation is
called sruti-pramana. As in the legal court if you can give statements from
the law book your statement is accepted, so all statements you give, if
supported by Ssruti-pramanas, are accepted by scholars. I think you know
the Vedas are known as Srutis.
Prof. Kotovsky: Yes.
Srila Prabhupada: sruti-smrti-puranadi-
pancaratra-vidhim vina
aikantiki harer bhaktir
utpatayaiva kalpate
[ Brahma-yamala]
Any system we accept must be supported by evidences of sruti, smrti, the
Puranas, and Pajicaratra. That which is not proved by these pramanas is a
disturbance.
Prof. Kotovsky: Could I just say one thing? What is in the Vedas could
also have been proved in a scientific way. Today, suppose there is a scien-
tific laboratory. What is said by that lab is true. That it is true you accept,
without going into the propriety of it. Suppose you have a scientific
workshop or institution; if this workshop or scientific institution says,
‘“‘This is not good,” the general body will take it for granted: ‘“Yes. The
scientific body has said so, so it is understood.”
Srila Prabhupada: Similarly, Vedic authoritative statements are ac-
cepted by the dcaryas [great teachers]. India is governed by the dcdryas—
Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Sankaracarya. They accept the Vedas, and
their followers accept them. The benefit is that I do not waste my time to
research whether cow dung is pure or impure; rather, because it is stated
in the Vedas to be pure, I accept it. I save my time by accepting the sruti-
pramana. In that way there are different statements in the Vedas for
sociology and politics or anything, for veda means ‘‘knowledge.”’
sarvasya caham hrdi sannivisto
mattah smrtir jidnam apohanam ca
vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham
[Bg. 15.15]
