Veda means knowledge

The four defects of the conditioned soul are: illusion, cheating propensity, imperfect senses, must make
mistakes

The three pramanas are pratyaksa (direct evidence, sense based), anuman (inductive, hypothesis, sense
based), sabda (inductive, aural reception from authority)

Sabda pramana is the superior means of acquiring knowledge because it is inductive, free from defects, it is
above material conceptions, it doesn’t come from speculation but from the supreme source (the spiritual
realm)

The two systems of knowledge in the material world are inductive and deductive

The qualifications of a bona fide guru is that he has received knowledge from the right source, means via
disciplic succession and is perfectly established in Brahman

Mantra 1:

Isavasya means the principle of the proprietorship of the Lord

Para means superior and apara means inferior, it refers to the Lord’s two types of energies

Bhagavad communism refers to the isavasya principle which also encompasses to know ones quota, that
which is necessary for oneself and that only

Apauruseya means the word spoken by the Lord

Mantra 2:

Karma is action performed in terms of prescribed duties (Vedas)

Akarma is action which frees one from the cycle of birth and death

Vikarma is sinful actions because they are performed by the misuse of ones free will and thus pushes one to
lower life forms

Mantra 3:

Atmaha means killer of the soul

Sura means demi god (or godly person) and asura means demon

Mantra 5:

Antaryami means supersoul

Tad dure tad v antike means “He is far away but he is very near as well”

Mantra 6-8:
Ekatvam anupasyatah means that the spiritual entities are qualitatively but not quantitatively one with the
Lord (to see the living units from the viewpoint of the revealed scriptures)

Suddham apapa viddham means that the Lord is antiseptic and prophylactic (purifying)

The Lord is unembodied because he has no material form, body mind and soul is one

Mantra 11:

Hiranyakasipu means “gold” and “soft bed”, it refers to the demons attachment to material wealth and
women

The miseries of the material world serve indirectly to remind us of our incompatibility with matter

Mantra 15:

Hiranmayena patrena means the dazzling effulgence of the Lord

Analogies

Introduction

Sruti is to considered to be like a Mother. We take so much knowledge from our Mother. For example, if
you want to know who your father is, who can answer you? Your mother. Similarly, if you want to know
something beyond your experience, beyond your experimental knowledge, beyond the activities of the
senses, then you have to accept the Vedas.

Invocation

The hand of a body is a complete unit only as long as it is attached to the complete body. When the hand is
severed from the body, it may appear like a hand, but it actually has none of the potencies of a hand.
Similarly, living beings are part and parcels of the Complete Whole, and if they are severed from the
Complete Whole, the illusory representation of completeness cannot satisfy them.

Mantra 1

The capitalist cannot curb the communist simply by political maneuvering, nor can the communists defeat
the capitalists simply by fighting for stolen bread. If they do not recognize the Proprietorship of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, all the property they claim to be their own is stolen.

Mantra 3

The material world is sometimes compared to an ocean, and the human body is compared to a boat
especially designed to cross that ocean. The Vedic scriptures and the acaryas, or saintly teachers, are
compared to expert boatmen, and the facilities of the body are compared to favorable breezes that help
the boat ply smoothly to its desired destination. If, with all these facilities, a human being does not fully
utilize his life for self-realization, he must be considered atma-ha, a killer of the soul.
Mantra 4

In the Visnu Purana, His potencies are compared to heat and light that emanate from a fire. Although
situated in one place, a fire can distribute its light and heat from a distance, similarly, the Absolute
Personality of Godhead, although fixed in his transcendental abode, can diffuse his different energies
everywhere.

Mantra 7

The living entities are qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, just as the sparks of a fire are qualitatively
one with the fire. Yet sparks are not fire as far as quantity is concerned, for the quantity of heat and light
present in sparks are not equal to that in fire.

These qualities are present in minute quantity, for the living entity is but a minute part and parcel of the
Supreme Whole. To use another example, the quantity of salt present in a drop is never equal to the
quantity of salt present in the complete ocean, but the salt present in the drop is qualitatively equal in
chemical composition to all the salt in the ocean.

Mantra 9

The advancement of learning from a godless civilization is as dangerous as a valuable jewel on the hood of a
cobra. A cobra decorated with a valuable jewel is more dangerous than one not decorated.

In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya, the advancement of education by a godless civilization is compared to

decorations on a dead body.

Mantra 12

Sri Isopanisad points out that one who worships the demigods and attains to their material planets still
remains in the darkest region of the universe. The whole universe is covered by the gigantic material
elements, it is just like a coconut covered by a shell and half-filled with water. Since its covering is airtight,
the darkness within is dense, and therefore the sun and the moon are required for illumination.

Mantra 13

A person who has purchased a ticket to Calcutta can reach Calcutta, but not Bombay. But the so called
spiritual masters say that any and all paths will take one to the supreme goal.