namaḥ pramāṇa-mūlāya
kavaye śāstra-yonaye
pravṛttāya nivṛttāya
nigamāya namo namaḥ
namah -- obeisances; pramana -- of authoritative evidence; mulaya -- to the basis; kavaye -- to the author; sastra -- of the revealed scripture; yonaye -- to the source; pravrittaya -- which encourages sense gratification; nivrittaya -- which encourages renunciation; nigamaya -- to Him who is the origin of both kinds of scripture; namah namah -- repeated obeisances.
We offer our obeisances again and again to You, who are the basis of all authoritative evidence, who are the author and ultimate source of the revealed scriptures, and who have manifested Yourself in those Vedic literatures encouraging sense gratification as well as in those encouraging renunciation of the material world.
If we did not have the powers of perception and cognition, evidence could not be transmitted, and if we had no tendency to believe in particular modes of evidence, persuasion could not take place. All of these processes -- perception, cognition, persuasion and transmission -- take place through the various potencies of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord Krishna is Himself the greatest scholar and intellectual being. He manifests the transcendental scriptures within the hearts of great devotees like Brahma and Narada, and in addition He incarnates as Vedavyasa, the compiler of all Vedic knowledge. In multifarious ways the Lord generates a variety of religious scriptures, which gradually bring the conditioned souls through the various phases of re-entry into the kingdom of God.
