(The Vedic Perspective)

Organizer
Designer
Controller

THREE WAYS OF GAINING KNOWLEDGE :

1. PRATYAKSA PRAMAN (DIRECT SENSE PERCEPTION )

2. ANUMANA PRAMAN (THEORIES BASED ON EVIDENCE )
3.SABDA PRAMAN (HEARING FROM A BONAFIDE AUTHORITY)
WE CANNOT ACQUIRE ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE
THROUGH MATERIAL SENSES.
OUR SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IS RELATIVE
 WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH
THROUGH OUR BLUNT MATERIAL SENSES
BECAUSE OF THE FOLLOWING

FOUR DEFECTS

1) IMPERFECT 2) TO BE
SENSES ILLUSIONED

3) TENDENCY TO COMMIT MISTAKES

4) CHEATING PROPENSITY
 OUR EYES ARE BLIND beyond
the range 400-700 nm

WE ARE DEAF beyond 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz

“Even if we photograph stars eventually we have to take in by our

senses what the photo shows. Furthermore, without our senses we
cannot handle a camera. Even if we amplified / refined by
instruments the knowledge is no more perfect than our imperfect
senses.”
- Dr.Eugene Wigner, 1963 Noble Laureate in Physics
TONGUE :
Orange after sugar = sour
Orange after lemon = sweet

SKIN:
Water touched with warm
hands feels cold

Water touched with cold

hands feels warm
Old Lady or Young woman?

Cup or Two Faces?

 Piltdown Man Fraud
 1912 -- December: Official presentation of Piltdown man
 People involved Abbott, Barlow, Butterfield, Dawson,
Doyle, Hargreaves, Hinton, Smith, Sollas, Woodward
 1953 -- Weiner, Le Gros Clark, and Oakley expose the hoax
 The Pfizer Annual Science Forum 2003
 RECORD OF
40,000
THE ROCKS

100,000 MAN & MONKEYS HAVE

COMMON ANCESTOR

HUMAN BEINGS
AND MONKEYS
SIMULTANEOUSLY
400,000 EXISTED
MILLIONS OF
YEARS AGO
1 million

1.5 million
2 million

Age of Rock Strata in Years

 It may have been like this,
or perhaps it was like this...

ANUMANA
Hypothesis on the knowledge
acquired by direct perception
 SABDA PRAMAN
Hearing from a Bonafide Authority

KRISHNA

BRAHMA

NARADA

CHAITANYA This supreme science was thus

MAHAPRABHU received through the chain of
disciplic succession, and the saintly
kings understood it in that way. But in
course of time the succession was
A.C. BHAKTIVEDANTA broken, and therefore the science as it
is appears to be lost.
SWAMI
-Srimad Bhagavad Gita 4.2
RELATIVE TRUTH
If we cannot understand relative knowledge perfectly by
our imperfect senses, then how can we understand
Absolute perfectly ?
 Seeing God
The Vedic Perspective
 How do you know you are seeing God?

nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam

eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman
tam atma-stham ye 'nupasyanti dhiras
tesam santih sasvati netaresam
(Katha Upanisad 2.2.13)

janmady asya yatah (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.2)

300 yrs ago Microbiology was not

existing, does it mean microbes
were not existing?
 “One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service.
And when one is in full consciousness of Me by
such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God”

-Srimad Bhagavad Gita 18.55

 WHAT DID WE LEARN TODAY ?
 Three ways of gaining Knowledge
Pratyaksa, Anumana and Sabda

 Pratyaksa Praman is direct sense perception.

Pratyaksa knowledge is relative because of
4 defects in living beings.
Four defects - Imperfect senses, To be illusioned,
To commit mistakes and Cheating propensity.
 Anumana Praman is based on past evidence; it is
hypothesis is dependent on sense perception

 Sabda Praman is hearing from a bonafide authority.

Pratyaksa and Anumana gives relative knowledge
Sabda Praman gives Absolute knowledge and is most reliable
and definite way of obtaining knowledge.