When the Lord said that He was an uneducated fool and could not follow the expositions, Bhaṭṭācārya replied: "If You do not follow what I am saying, why don't You inquire? Why do You simply sit silently? It appears that You do have something to say about my explanations."
"My dear sir," the Lord replied. "As far as the Vedānta-sūtra or the codes of Vedānta are concerned, I can understand the meaning quite well. However, I cannot understand your explanations. There is nothing really difficult about the meaning of the original Vedānta-sūtra, but the way you explain Vedānta-sūtra appears to obscure the real meaning. You do not elucidate the direct meaning but imagine something and consequently obscure the true meaning. I think that you have a particular doctrine which you are trying to expound through the codes of Vedānta-sūtra."
According to Muktika Upaniṣad, there are 108 Upaniṣads. Among these are: (1) Īśa, (2) Kena, (3) Kaṭha, (4) Praśna, (5) Muṇḍaka, (6) Māṇḍūkya, (7) Tittiri, (8) Aitareya, (9) Chāndogya, (10) Bṛhad-āraṇyaka, (11) Brahma, (12) Kaivalya, (13) Jāvāla, (14) Śvetāśva, (15) Hansa, (16) Arunih, (17) Garbha, (18) Narayana, etc. These 108 Upanisads contain all knowledge about the Absolute Truth. Sometimes people inquire abou the meaning of these 108 prayer beads, but because we think there are 108 Upanisads which contain full knowledge of the Absolute Truth, therefore 108 beads are accepted. Sometimes on the other hand, the Vaiṣṇava transcendentalists think that the 108 beads represent the 108 companions of Lord Kṛṣṇa in His rāsa dance, and therefore 108 beads are accepted.
Lord Caitanya protested against misinterpretations of the Upaniṣads, and He rejected any explanation which did not give the direct meaning of the Upaniṣads. The direct interpretation is called abhidhā-vṛtti, whereas the indirect interpretation is called lakṣanā-vṛtti, The indirect interpretation serves no purpose. There are four kinds of understanding, called: (1) direct understanding (pratyakṣa), (2) hypothetical understanding (anumāna), (3) historical understanding (aitihya) and (4) understanding through sound (śabda). Of these four, understanding from the Vedic scriptures (which are the sound representations of the Absolute Truth) is the best method. The traditional Vedic students accept understanding through sound to be the best.