In the Vedic process there is atonement, but what is the use of this atonement if he does not cease committing the same sinful activity? Just like practically we see a thief. So he knows that "I am committing theft. I shall be punished if I am arrested." He knows it; otherwise why he goes silently at night and break? (laughter) He knows it well that "If I am arrested I will be punished."
So śrutābhyām. Śruta means . . . just like we are hearing the śāstra, so he has heard it from the law books that if one commits theft he'll be punished. And he has seen also that a person who has committed theft, he is arrested by the police, so he was being taken to the prison house.
So knowledge is acquired from two sources: by direct perception and by hearing. Just like we are hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. This is knowledge also. And when you see there are three kinds of receiving knowledge . . . one is śruti. Śruti means hearing. So our Vedic process is that we hear the Vedic information, and we become perfect, śruti. And somebody challenges that "Why shall I believe in the Vedas? I must see." But everything is not possible to see. For example, somebody . . . the mother said to the son, "Here is your father." So you have to believe your mother; otherwise how you can see your father? It is not possible. If you want to see to take the proof, "Whether this gentleman is my father," that is not possible. Because he became your father before your birth, how you can see? This is the way. You have to accept authority. So things which are beyond our perception we have to accept authority. Therefore the Vedic process is, if the world perfect order is there in the Vedas—not if; anything which is in the Vedas, that is perfect—we have to accept. Accept. This is the way, Vedic, śruti.