laksana-vrtti / mukhya-vrtti

01-28-2007, 03:39 PM

What is the meaning of the last sentance of this purport? What is the
necessity Srila Prabhupada speaks about? Any examples when and how the Vedic
literature is described in terms of laksana vritti?

Your servant,
Mahat-tattva dasa

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura comments that mukhya-vrtti ("the
direct meaning") is abhidha-vrtti, or the meaning that one can understand
immediately from the statements of dictionaries, whereas gauna-vrtti ("the
indirect meaning") is a meaning that one imagines without consulting the
dictionary. For example, one politician has said that Kuruksetra refers to
the body, but in the dictionary there is no such definition. Therefore this
imaginary meaning is gauna-vrtti, whereas the direct meaning found in the
dictionary is mukhya-vrtti or abhidha-vrtti. This is the distinction between
the two. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu recommends that one understand the Vedic
literature in terms of abhidha-vrtti, and the gauna-vrtti He rejects.
Sometimes, however, as a matter of necessity, the Vedic literature is
described in terms of the laksana-vrtti or gauna-vrtti, but one should not
accept such explanations as permanent truths.

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Adi 7.110