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**LottiFurmann** · 11-10-2005, 05:06 PM

Mandana: You cannot, however explain a similar passage where God and the Self are specifically compared to light and sahade.

Shankara: It mentions only the ordinarily perceived difference and does not lay down any new truth, which is a necessary ingredient to invest any statement with authority. The sentences teaching identity, on the other hand, teach us what we know not already and they alone are, therefore, of authority.

Mandana: Your statement seems a curious one. When a fact contained in a passage of the Vedas is supported by direct observation, certainly that passage must be of more authority than one which directly contradicts the evidence of perception.

Shankara: You seem to forget that we began with an admitted proposition that the Vedas can be of authority only when they teach us something which we do not or cannot know by any other means of knowledge. It naturally follows that the other methods of proof, perception and reasoning really weaken the authority of the Sruti, if they also lead to the same truth as is proclaimed by the Sruti.

11-10-2005, 05:06 PM	#27
LottiFurmann Join Date Jan 2008 Posts 4,494 Senior Member	Mandana: You cannot, however explain a similar passage where God and the Self are specifically compared to light and sahade. Shankara: It mentions only the ordinarily perceived difference and does not lay down any new truth, which is a necessary ingredient to invest any statement with authority. The sentences teaching identity, on the other hand, teach us what we know not already and they alone are, therefore, of authority. Mandana: Your statement seems a curious one. When a fact contained in a passage of the Vedas is supported by direct observation, certainly that passage must be of more authority than one which directly contradicts the evidence of perception. Shankara: You seem to forget that we began with an admitted proposition that the Vedas can be of authority only when they teach us something which we do not or cannot know by any other means of knowledge. It naturally follows that the other methods of proof, perception and reasoning really weaken the authority of the Sruti, if they also lead to the same truth as is proclaimed by the Sruti.
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