For those who tinker with pramanas

[Guest guest]

If for some reasons we're impelled to privelege lower pramanas

(generally a questionable need to begin with), I think it's a good idea to

interpret Srila Prabhupada's books (only if necessary) in light of their

traditional context, partly because this what is suggested by Srimad

Bhagavatam 11.19.17, which adds this socio-historical dimension to the

three pramanas we already know from Srila Prabhupada's Isopanisad

Introduction, etc.:

 

"From the four types of evidence--Vedic knowledge, direct

experience, traditional wisdom and logical induction--one can understand

the temporary, insubstantial situation of the material world, by which one

becomes detached from the duality of this world."

 

Notably, these are the sources Krsna prescribes for understanding our

*material* situation, what to speak of our spiritual endeavors. The

words used are: "pramANeSv anavasthAnAd vikalpat sa virajyate"--one

becomes disentangled from the ever-shifting and faulty mental constructs

which characterize attachment to the lower pramanas. Krsna tells Uddhava

(whom He was instructing) that he heard this when Bhisma spoke to

Yudhisthira and others. Maybe that's historical evidence itself.

History, or "aitihya," is also called "itihasa," and there is an entire

genre of Vedic literature which supplies this simply for *our* edification;

Ramayana and Mahabharata are perhaps the best examples, but our hagiographies

and oral tradition help to serve this purpose too.

 

MDd