śākhācandra nyāyaḥ (moon on the branches)
The Moon is shown by pointing out the branches of a tree.
The popular atheistic challenge is: “Can you show me the God?” But how can they see Him if they don't perceive Him because they depend on some kind of concocted faith. A foolish child may demand to see the Moon, though does not know what actually Moon is. Clever mother first says, “Do you see that tree?” When the child recognizes the tree then she can proceed. “Do you see those branches on the tree?” “Yes, ma.” After that mother can say, “That round shiny thing on the branches is Moon.” She says that while knowing that in reality, Moon is not on the branches of the tree, but rather far away from it.
Vedas apply the same principle for us, child-like conditioned entities, to spark our interest to get closer to God. They point out to things, phenomenons, concepts, thoughts, impressions, mental associations, relations, tastes, we all know well. This book is one of the examples, just to see how Supreme Lord manifests through those using His various energies and expansions. That means to have divine sight or śāstra-cakṣus or to see through the eyes of revealed scriptures. Divine Lord is like the beautiful, cooling moon. The tree with its manifold branches is like the material energy with its various manifestations, and the Vedic scriptures are, like our mother, educating us to see properly.
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