Now, we have got evidence from the Vedic literature. But the other party, they have no evidence. They are simply speculationist. We can give some evidence. The Vedas are accepted by acharyas, and they are following, and they are getting the result.

Evidence or Mythology?

Sri Guru and Gauranga

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Books better than bones and fossils

SATSVARUPA: They base many of their conclusions on finding of fossils, old remains.

PRABHUPADA: Eh?

SATSVARUPA: Fossils, impressions of animals' bodies in the stone that are left there thousands of years. They gather all these... That's what Darwin's work mostly was. He would sail around the world and collect all these fossils, and make conclusions and write books.

PRABHUPADA: But where they will get fossils of old intelligent men?

SATSVARUPA: Well, they say that they've found just skulls of very primitive men...

PRABHUPADA: No, no, you cannot find because according to Vedic culture, the body's burned into ashes. Where you'll get the bones and fossils?

BALI MARDANA: You only come up with the primitive ones who are not civilized.

PRABHUPADA: We understand from the writings, not from the fossils and bones. The bones and fossils are already finished, but they kept their writing.

BALI MARDANA: Only the uncivilized people were buried.

PRABHUPADA: Suppose I am writing books. In future if you could not find my bones and fossils, but the books will prove what I was. So we have got the books. That is the real bones and fossils.

What constitutes evidence?

Now, we have got evidence from the Vedic literature. But the other party, they have no evidence. They are simply speculationist. We can give some evidence. The Vedas are accepted by acharyas, and they are following, and they are getting the result. So therefore, shruti-pramana. shruti-pramana. There are three kinds of evidences. Out of that, shruti-pramana, evidence from higher authorities, that is the first-class evidence. What are those evidence? Pratyaksha, aitihya and shruti. Pratyaksha means direct perception. Direct perception, that is evidence. People with poor fund of knowledge, they want direct perception of everything. That is not possible. Direct perception of everything is not possible. Therefore aitihya. Aitihya means historical, historical, parampara, hearing, traditional. And the next first-class evidence is shruti. Shruti means to hear from the authority. That is shruti. Just like the example we have several times cited here that the evidence "Who is my father?" that evidence is to hear from my mother. That's all. There is no other evidence. The mother says that "This is your father. He is your father." This is shruti, hearing from the mother, authority. And we have no other authority to understand father.

Ramayana accepted as Vedic evidence

Kona brahmande kona lilara haya avasthanatate lila 'nitya' kahe agama-purana. Agama-purana means Vedic literature. Agama, "which is coming from higher plane," not manufactured here. Agama-purana. And Purana means the old history of the world. Some of the modern scholars, they take everything [in the Puranas] as mythology, imagination. That is not fact. They're real history. Purana. Purana means very old. Nityah shashvato yam purano [Bhagavad-gita 2.20]. In Hindi it is called Purana. Purana means old. The Puranas means the old history, not only of this world, but of the whole universe. Purana is also Vedic evidence. Purana is not ordinary thing. Therefore here it is said, agama-purana. Vedic literatures. Srila Madhvacarya has accepted the Vedic literatures–four Vedas, Vedanta-sutra, Upanishads, Puranas, Ramayana, Mahabharata. They're all Vedic literature.

Pastimes of Lord Rama summarized

The Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnated Himself as Sri Rama, accepting the sonhood of His pure devotee Maharaja Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. Lord Rama descended along with His plenary portions, and all of them appeared as His younger brothers. In the month of Chaitra on the ninth day of the growing moon in the Treta-yuga, the Lord appeared, as usual, to establish the principles of religion and to annihilate the disturbing elements. When He was just a young boy, He helped the great sage Vishvamitra by killing Subahu and striking Maricha, the she-demon who was disturbing the sages in their daily discharge of duties. The brahmanas and kshatriyas are meant to cooperate for the welfare of the mass of people. The brahmanas sages endeavor to enlighten the people by perfect knowledge, and the kshatriyas are meant for their protection. Lord Ramachandra is the ideal king for maintaining and protecting the highest culture of humanity, known as brahmanya-dharma. The Lord is specifically the protector of the cows and the brahmanas, and hence He enhances the prosperity of the world. He rewarded the administrative demigods by effective weapons to conquer the demons through the agency of Vishvamitra. He was present in the bow sacrifice of King Janaka, and by breaking the invincible bow of Shiva, He married Sitadevi, daughter of Maharaja Janaka.

After His marriage He accepted exile in the forest for fourteen years by the order of His father, Maharaja Dasharatha. To help the administration of the demigods, He killed fourteen thousand demons, and by the intrigues of the demons, His wife, Sitadevi, was kidnapped by Ravana. He made friendship with Sugriva, who was helped by the Lord to kill Vali, brother of Sugriva. By the help of Lord Rama, Sugriva became the king of the Vanaras (a race of gorillas). The Lord built a floating bridge of stones on the Indian Ocean and reached Lanka, the kingdom of Ravana, who had kidnapped Sita. Later on Ravana was killed by Him, and Ravana's brother Vibhishana was installed on the throne of Lanka. Vibhishana was one of the brothers of Ravana, a demon, but Lord Rama made him immortal by His blessings. On the expiry of fourteen years, after settling the affairs at Lanka, the Lord came back to His kingdom, Ayodhya, by flower plane. He instructed His brother Shatrughna to attack Lavnasura, who reigned at Mathura, and the demon was killed. He performed ten Ashvamedha sacrifices, and later on He disappeared while taking a bath in the Sharayu River. The great epic Ramayana is the history of Lord Rama's activities in the world, and the authoritative Ramayana was written by the great poet Valmiki.