“Vedic knowledge is called shabda-pramana. Another name is shruti. Shruti means that this knowledge has to be received simply by aural reception. The Vedas instruct that in order to understand transcendental knowledge, we have to hear from the authority.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shri Ishopanishad, Introduction)

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“Let me get something off my chest for a second. I hope I can properly convey my thoughts, my concerns, and what exactly is bothering me. I will use an example from current events, which ties into politics, but you can transition to any other instance of cognitive dissonance and watch the same sequence play out. I am just totally dumbfounded. I am also upset. I feel for the people who first blew the whistle, so to speak.

“Here is what happens. You have a government or ruling coalition which is corrupt. They are either bought off or have ill intent. Whatever the initial cause, they do not care about the people they are supposed to protect. They pass an ordinance or law that is clearly harmful. Of course, they present it to the public in the exact opposite light. For instance, a bill in the legislature with ‘employee protection’ in the name is actually a way to make life worse for the employee.

“What happens next is that the people with influence, who are impacted by the legislation, lobby for exceptions. The corrupt leaders review these special cases and then grant exemptions. For instance, the staff working for the sitting members of the legislature might be given subsidies to offset the cost of a commodity impacted by the latest legislation. It is corruption in plain sight. There is no backroom deal; everyone can see what is going on. The people involved have no shame about it, either.

“The thing is, you try to tell the common person and they think you are crazy. They ask for evidence. You provide it to them, and they dismiss it immediately, based on the source. They use some invective to characterize a particular news outlet as fake, biased, or wrong. They never even acknowledge the reality of the situation. They never ask questions.

“That is until the legislation personally affects them! For instance, the corrupt leaders they supported all along have now visibly dropped the ball in protecting a residential area from a raging fire. You see, these people were never previously impacted by the corruption. They were safe from it, due to their income. They could hide in upscale communities, while the common man was left to fight alone in the streets, against the culture that promotes criminals.

“Not until they are personally affected will these people stand up. Now they ask everyone else to do the same. Hello? We have been here the entire time. Why did you not listen to us? Why did you call us names? Why did you not accept the wise counsel that we offered you?”

They say that politics is the one area where it does not pay to be early. If you notice a trend long before others, what happens is that you will be mocked and vilified. Opponents will characterize your warnings in a negative light. They will say you are a conspiracy theorist or a fearmonger. After some time, when the prediction plays out, no one remembers who originally raised the issue. It is like the person blowing the whistle gets no benefit from it.

We can bemoan the plight of the seers first on the scene to detect the issues, but what can really be done? This is the nature of the playing field. This is one of the effects of the illusory energy of maya. The seers of the Vedic tradition have been steady in their insistence on shabda-pramana. This emphasis has been fixed across thousands of years, over countless turnovers in population, with the degradation in culture and morals. The seers have always prioritized sound over sight. Sound based in authority is more valuable and easier to assimilate than insisting on firsthand evidence.

The situation described above focuses on pratyaksha-pramana. This is evidence gathered personally. It is like insisting on seeing something to believe in it. Otherwise, there will be no takers. Of course, we already accept so much based on authority. We have no way of seeing ourselves in the womb, for instance. We cannot travel back in time and meet with an important leader from history. We have to accept the information passed along through sound. That information might be flawed, based on the person passing it forward, but we overcome that hurdle by seeking authority figures who can be trusted.

In the Vedic tradition, such authority figures have a quality known as akāma. They have no material desires. If we insist on proof, that they show us their lack of interest in the temporary, then there are institutions like sannyasa and stages within it such as parivrajaka. A wise and capable person volunteers to become a beggar. This is to facilitate travel, as they must ask others for food, clothing, and shelter. This travel also facilitates dissemination of the message, with a stronger visible backing of authority. In other words, the presentation will attract more listeners when the source is living the life of a mendicant.

The sort of “red-pilling” described above is impossible to achieve for every single issue that impacts man. There is simply too much corruption to become aware of. The cheating is at the grandest scale. Better to learn about who I am, why I am here, why I suffer, and to where I will go in the future. Better to find ways to shape that future destination, such that I will be able to tolerate the ups and downs. Better to finally be out of the miserable place known as shokadhama.

तब लगि कुसल न जीव कहुँ सपनेहुँ मन बिश्राम
जब लगि भजत न राम कहुँ सोकधाम तजि काम

taba lagi kusala na jīva kahum̐ sapanehum̐ mana biśrāma
jaba lagi bhajata na rāma kahum̐ sokadhāma taji kāma

“For as long as there is not devotion to Shri Rama and the release of material desires, which are like an abode of grief, the living being should not expect to find welfare and peace of mind, even in a dream.” (Dohavali, 131)

In Closing:

Everyone accepting lo and behold,
Even though years prior I told.

That the corruption running deep,
Not the best interests to seek.

But not until affected their own,
For the truth to be known.

Vedic seers insisting on sound,
For wisdom universal and profound.

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