nÄhi paá¸i alaá¹…kÄra, kariyÄchi Å›ravaṇa
tÄte ei Å›loke dekhi bahu doá¹£a-guṇa
nÄhi paá¸i - I do not study; alaá¹…kÄra - the art of literary embellishment; kariyÄchi - I have done; Å›ravaṇa - hearing; tÄte - by that; ei Å›loke - in this verse; dekhi - I see; bahu - many; doá¹£a - faults; guṇa - good qualities.
“Certainly I have not studied the art of literary embellishments. But I have heard about it from higher circles, and thus I can review this verse and find in it many faults and many good qualities.â€
The statement kariyÄchi Å›ravaṇa (“I have heard itâ€) is very important in the sense that hearing is more important than directly studying or perceiving. If one is expert in hearing and hears from the right source, his knowledge is immediately perfect. This process is called Å›rauta-panthÄ, or the acquisition of knowledge by hearing from authorities. All Vedic knowledge is based on the principle that one must approach a bona fide spiritual master and hear from him the authoritative statements of the Vedas. It is not necessary for one to be a highly polished literary man to receive knowledge; to receive perfect knowledge from a perfect person, one must be expert in hearing. This is called the descending process of deductive knowledge, or avaroha-panthÄ.
