Pramana-tattva Four Kinds of Evidence are Described in Srimad Bhagavatam srutih pratyaksam aitihyam anumanam catustayampramanesv anavasthanad vikalpat sa virajyate Four kinds of evidence are recognized: revelation, direct perception, received testimony or tradition, and inference. One should become detached from speculative uncertainty that arises when these means of knowledge are not properly established. Srimad Bhagavatam 11.19.17 Three Kinds of Evidence are spoken of, in Manu-samhita pratyaksas canumanam ca sastram ca vividha-agamamtrayam suviditam karyam dharma-suddhim abhipsata One who desires to ascertain the purity of dharma should thoroughly understand these three means of knowledge: direct perception, inference, and scripture as received through the various sacred traditions. Manu-samhita 12.105 Madhvacharya states there are Three Kinds of Evidence pratyakse ‘ntarbhaved yasmat aitihyam tena desikahpramanam trividham prakhyat tatra mukhya srutir bhavet Because traditional testimony is included within direct perception, the teacher has declared that there are three principal means of valid knowledge. Among them, sruti, divine revelation, is foremost. Prameya-ratnavali 9.2 The Testimony of Sages, Revealed through Spoken Words, Is the Best Evidence for Understanding Reality yadyapi pratyaksanumana-sabdarya-upamanarthapatti-abhava-sambhava-itihya-cestakhyani dasa pramanani viditani, tathapi bhrama-pramada-vipralipsa-karanapatava-dosa-rahita-vacanatmakah sabda eva mulam pramanam Although ten means of knowledge are recognized – direct perception, inference, verbal testimony, authoritative testimony, comparison, presumption, absence, possibility, received tradition, and indication through action or gesture – sruti – spoken revelation – is the principal means of attaining transcendental knowledge, because true revealed testimony is free from the defects of illusion, error, deception, and imperfect senses. Tattva-sandarbha, Sarva-samvadini Sruti Is the Principal Evidence pramanera madhye sruti-pramana pradhanasruti ye mukhyartha kahe, sei se pramana jivera asthi-vistha dui sankha-gomayasruti-vakye sei dui maha-pavitra haya svatah-pramana veda satya yei kaya“laksana” karile svatah-pramanya-hani haya Among all forms of evidence, the testimony of sages known as sruti is the foremost. What sruti states in its primary meaning is authoritative evidence. A conch shell is the bone of a living being, and cow dung is its excrement, yet by the statement of sruti both are accepted as highly pure. The Veda is self-evident authority, and what it declares is true. If its statements are unnecessarily forced into secondary or indirect meanings, its self-evident authority is diminished. Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya 6.135-137 The Final Conclusion of Thakur Bhaktivinode Sri Tattva Sutra, Sutra 41 Srila Rupa Goswami said: krishnadibhih vibhavad-yair gateh anubhavadhvani praudhananda-camatkara- kashtham apadyate param “When, through the grace of Krishna and with other constituents of rasa such as vibhava and anubhava, the current of spiritual experience unfolds, it attains the supreme limit of profound bliss and wondrous astonishment.” Again he says: adau shraddha tatah sadhu-sango ’tha bhajana-kriya tato ’nartha-nivrittih syat tato nishtha rucis tatah athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudancati sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah “In the beginning there is faith. Thereafter comes association with saints, then engagement in devotional practice. From that arises the cessation of unwanted tendencies; thereafter steadiness develops, then taste. After that comes deep attachment, then bhava, and finally prema manifests fully. Such is the gradual order by which divine love appears in the lives of spiritual practitioners.” Siddhanta-prakarana 41. shastrani surya-kirana-rupani “Revealed scriptures are rays of the sun of realized knowledge.” Commentary by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur Someone may object: “The scriptures teach many different doctrines, and the followers of these doctrines establish many conflicting positions. If living beings simply submit themselves to one scripture or another and labour under its authority, how can they attain faultless spiritual welfare? What is the use of all this exhausting effort?” In reply to this objection, the revered author of the Sri Tattva Sutra begins the Fifth Chapter in order to establish that living beings cannot attain ultimate welfare unless they take shelter of self-evident spiritual knowledge within oneself. The phrase “rays of the sun of knowledge” is decisive and meaningful. The self-evident knowledge present within each of the living beings is itself like the sun, because Brahman within the individual is self-luminous. It destroys darkness and reveals all objects properly. All scriptures are but rays proceeding from that sun, fragments emerging from it. Thus the Shruti declares: “From Him arose the Rik hymns, the Sama hymns, the metres, and from Him the Yajus came forth.” And therefore Vyasa, the author of the Brahma-sutras, also established this same conclusion when he declared that Brahman is the source of scripture.