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Rejecting aparā-vidyā (Bg 2.42 to 2.46)
The Vedas offer different types of knowledge for different types of people. As a kṣatriya, Arjuna is well-versed in the Vedas, but Kṛṣṇa wants to bring him higher, directly to the platform of buddhi-yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Attachment to the fruitive rituals of the Vedas and their promises of prosperity and elevation to the heavenly planets is one of the obstacles that can prevent one from becoming fixed in devotional service. Kṛṣṇa therefore tells Arjuna to go beyond this limited understanding and seek the essence of the Vedas.
Texts 42-43: yām imām puṣpitām vācam, pravadanty avipaścitaḥ
veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārtha, nānyad astīti vādinaḥ
kāmātmānaḥ svarga-parā, janma-karma-phala-pradām
kriyā-viśeṣa-bahulām, bhogaiśvarya-gatim prati
Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.
Text 44: bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānām, tayāpahṛta-cetasām
vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ, samādhau na vidhīyate
In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.
Text 45: trai-guṇya-viṣayā vedā, nistrai-guṇyo bhavārjuna
nirdvandvo nitya-sattva-stho, niryoga-kṣema ātmavān
The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the self.
Text 46: yāvān artha uda-pāne, sarvataḥ samplutodake
tāvān sarveṣu vedeṣu, brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ
All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.
We hear that the Vedas are the source of perfect, transcendental knowledge. The Vedic knowledge was originally transmitted by Kṛṣṇa to Brahmā, from Brahmā to Nārada, and so on, resulting in the pure chain of paramparā that brings it all the way to us. All conditioned souls are plagued by four types of defects, but the transcendental knowledge of the Vedas is infallible.
Considering these points, how is it that Kṛṣṇa describes the Vedas as containing flowery knowledge based on fruitive activities, dealing mainly with material subjects, and giving the impression that they are something to be rejected? This is connected with the division of parā-vidyā and aparā-vidyā inside the Vedas.
The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.1.5) mentions: “All the Vedas, including the Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, and Atharva Veda, along with their corollaries, known as śikṣā, kalpa, vyākaraṇa, nirukta, chanda and jyotiṣa belong to the inferior system of material knowledge (aparā-vidyā). By parā-vidyā one can understand the akṣara: Brahman or the Absolute Truth.”
This verse defines different branches of knowledge inside the Vedas as aparā-vidyā (inferior knowledge), contrasting them with knowledge about the Absolute Truth, which is defined as parā-vidyā, or superior knowledge. In his commentary on this verse, Śrīla Madhvācārya explains that these branches are considered inferior, or aparā, when they do not designate Viṣṇu but are employed in a ritualistic sense. However, they become parā-vidyā, when they directly express Lord Viṣṇu and service to Him.
How does it work? In essence, the whole Vedic literature exists with the sole purpose of glorifying the Lord and bringing one to the platform of devotional service to Him. However, when one misses this purpose and instead focuses on rituals and fruitive results (karma-kānda), he deals with the inferior knowledge mentioned in this verse.
Madhvācārya explains that in Satya-Yuga, the Vedas were one. This single and undivided Veda revealed a single ultimate truth: Lord Viṣṇu as the Supreme Lord, without a second. Inhabitants of Satya-yuga respected the demigods, but not as separate deities. They were seen as guardians, transmitters of Vedic knowledge, and representatives of the Lord. Because at the time, there was no worship apart from the worship of the Lord, there was no concept of higher and lower Vedic knowledge. The division between parā-vidyā and aparā-vidyā started in Tretā-yuga, when people manifested the desire for fruitive activities. The Vedas were then divided into three: Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāma, and people began to worship through these divisions by performing Vedic ceremonies. Everything that deals directly with devotional service and worship of the Lord then began to be classified as parā-vidyā, and knowledge connected with the worship of demigods, as well as fruitive activities and material subjects, was defined as aparā-vidyā.
In Dvāpara-yuga, the capacity of the general population to understand the Vedas decayed further, and the Vedas were divided into five divisions, including also the Atharva-Veda and the fifth Veda in the form of the Purāṇas, Mahābhārata, etc., making the knowledge of the Vedas more accessible. Still, most of the population was not able to directly understand the Vedas, and thus they were advised to worship the Lord in the temples, following the rules and regulations of the pañcarātric system.
In Kali-yuga, the knowledge of the Vedas practically disappears. We are also not capable of rigidly following the pañcarātric system of temple worship; therefore, the only hope for us is to directly surrender to the Lord by adopting the process of devotional service, which is the essence and ultimate purpose of the Vedas.
Therefore, when Kṛṣṇa says that “Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas”, He refers to this limited understanding of the Vedas as a source of material knowledge and fruitive rituals to obtain material results. He tells Arjuna to instead look for the real purpose of the Vedas, which is pure devotional service to the Lord.
This is emphasized in verse 2.44, where He explains that excessive attachment to sense enjoyment keeps one bewildered and bound to the material energy, incapable of ascending to the platform of devotional service. The reason the Vedas offer the path of fruitive activities is to attract the conditioned souls, offering material rewards. By following the regulations of the scriptures, one becomes gradually purified, and after ascending to the celestial planets and eventually coming back to Earth, one has an opportunity to come in contact with devotees and start on the path of devotional service. However, one who misses the opportunity and again just performs fruitive activities is defined by the Lord as avipaścitaḥ, a man with a poor fund of knowledge, lacking discernment or wisdom.
Aparā-vidyā is not transcendental knowledge. The karma-kānda section of the Vedas (which encompasses most of the verses of the four Vedas) thus contains knowledge that is still under the three modes of material nature, as indicated by the Lord with the words trai-guṇya-viṣayā vedā (the Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature). Kṛṣṇa thus encourages Arjuna to transcend this limited understanding, coming to the platform of devotional service, which exists on the transcendental plane.
Arjuna could argue about the importance of dharma, of fulfilling his material obligations, but Kṛṣṇa explains that “all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them”, just like all the purposes served by a small well can be served by a great reservoir of water.
Typically, in villages, people would have several smaller reservoirs of water that would be used for different purposes. Water from a clean well would be used exclusively for drinking and cooking, while other sources could be used for washing, bathing, etc. However, when there is a very large, unpolluted river crossing the village, there is no necessity for such considerations, since, being so large, the river could fulfill all purposes simultaneously, without ever becoming compromised. Similarly, the Lord explains that when one adopts the path of unalloyed devotional service, there is no need for minor considerations about fruitive activities, since all these purposes are automatically fulfilled by the process of devotional service. One who dedicates himself to the practice of devotional service is not deprived of the results of all other processes, just like being a billionaire includes possessing a thousand and a million. Material opulence, elevation to the heavenly planets, mystic powers, and even impersonal liberation stand at the door of a pure devotee, anxious to serve him, but have little opportunity to do so, since a pure devotee does not desire anything apart from the transcendental service to the Lord.
Prabhupāda explains these points in his purport to text 2.46:
“So one must be intelligent enough to understand the purpose of the Vedas, without being attached to the rituals only, and must not desire to be elevated to the heavenly kingdoms for a better quality of sense gratification. It is not possible for the common man in this age to follow all the rules and regulations of the Vedic rituals, nor is it possible to study all of the Vedānta and the Upaniṣads thoroughly. It requires much time, energy, knowledge and resources to execute the purposes of the Vedas. This is hardly possible in this age. The best purpose of Vedic culture is served, however, by chanting the holy name of the Lord, as recommended by Lord Caitanya, the deliverer of all fallen souls.”
Main points in the purports of Śrīla Prabhupāda:
“Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this.”
a) Most people desire sense gratification and are thus attracted to the promises of material rewards in the karma-kānda section of the Vedas. Because of their poor fund of knowledge, they think that this is the whole purpose of the Vedas.
b) The karma-kānda section prescribes many types of elaborate ceremonies for elevation to the celestial planets that attract materially minded people, who are anxious to increase their material enjoyment.
c) Elevation to the celestial planets is, however, temporary, and when one’s pious merits are exhausted, one has to come back to Earth. The real purpose of the Vedas is to bring one to the eternal platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. However, such pious materialists have no faith or interest in the process of becoming free from material bondage.
“In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute determination for devotional service to the Supreme Lord does not take place.”
a) Prabhupāda connects the word samādhau in the verse (in the controlled mind) with the word samādhi (fixed mind). This samādhi is not possible for people interested in sense enjoyment and blinded by fruitive rituals. They have to stay in the material world until their consciousness somehow changes.
“The Vedas deal mainly with the subject of the three modes of material nature. O Arjuna, become transcendental to these three modes. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the self.”
a) Material activities are executed due to the influence of the three modes and produce material results that cause material bondage.
b) The Vedas prescribe fruitive activities to gradually elevate materialists from the platform of material activity to the transcendental plane, which starts with brahma-jijñāsā, questions about the supreme transcendence, which are the beginning of Vedānta philosophy. Arjuna is advised to follow this path, going beyond fruitive activities.
c) The natural progression of a student of the Vedas is to go from karma-kāṇḍa to the Upaniṣads, which speak about the soul and are thus the beginning of transcendental life. The Upaniṣads are selected passages from the four Vedas, and the Bhagavad-gītā is part of the Mahābhārata, the fifth Veda.
d) As long as we are in the body, we have to face difficulties due to the reactions to past actions. Materialistic people try to solve these difficulties by material means and thus they become further entangled in material activities. To be elevated to the transcendental position, we have to learn to tolerate these difficulties and focus on our spiritual practice, depending on the goodwill of Kṛṣṇa.
“All purposes served by a small well can at once be served by a great reservoir of water. Similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas can be served to one who knows the purpose behind them.”
a) The highest goal of Vedic knowledge is to revive our original Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The reason the Vedas prescribe rituals and fruitive activities in the karma-kānda section is just to attract materialistic people to follow the scriptures and thus gradually encourage them on the path of self-realization.
b) When a person comes to the point of service to the Lord in devotional service, it is presumed he has already graduated from all the other lesser processes prescribed in the Vedas. There is no need to go back.
c) Nowadays, it is very difficult to follow this gradual process of elevation, starting from the rituals, then studying the Vedānta and Upaniṣads, etc. The only way to fulfill the goal of the Vedas is by accepting the process recommended by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and chanting the holy names inoffensively. The highest Vedāntist is the great soul who takes pleasure in chanting the holy name of the Lord.
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« The Song of God—Volume 1, chapters 1-6
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