section_path: Philosophy and practice/Pramanas - means of knowledge/Anubhava
section_name: Anubhava
paragraph_text: Anubhava
  
  Anantanand Rambachan summarizes the widely held view on the role of anubhava in Shankara's epistemology as follows, before critiquing it:
  
  According to these studies, Shankara only accorded a provisional validity to the knowledge gained by inquiry into the words of the Śruti (Vedas) and did not see the latter as the unique source (pramana) of Brahmajnana. The affirmations of the Śruti, it is argued, need to be verified and confirmed by the knowledge gained through direct experience (anubhava) and the authority of the Śruti, therefore, is only secondary.