The original understanding of the Vedas
People of Satya-yuga could understand the verses of the Vedas in their original purpose, with all words indicating devotional service to the Lord. Because of this there was no worship of demigods.
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The original understanding of the Vedas
People of Satya-yuga could understand all the verses of the Vedas in their original purpose, with all words indicating devotional service to the Lord. Because of this understanding, there was no worship of demigods and the Vedas were one. Worship of demigods was introduced in Treta-yuga, when intelligence declined and people became inclined to fruitive activities. All forms of sacrifice, including fire sacrifices, were originally meant to be performed for the satisfaction of the Lord, and no one else. Angirasa encourages the sages to execute their sacrifices on this original understanding, discarding all types of fruitive mentality, and adopting the unifying knowledge about the Supreme that allows one to reconnect with Him in devotional service.
Text 1.2.1
tad etat satyam
mantreṣu karmāṇi kavayo yāny apaśyams
tāni tretāyām bahudhā santatāni
tāny ācaratha niyatam satya-kāmāḥ
eṣa vaḥ panthāḥ sukṛtasya loke
Brahman is the Supreme Truth! The original understanding of sacrifice expanded into many forms in Treta-yuga. O great sages anxious to please the Lord, practice sacrifices steadily and regularly, in their original understanding, for the satisfaction of the Lord. This is your path back to Godhead.
Commentary: In the previous verses, the difference between parā-vidyā and aparā-vidyā was already revealed, and the cultivation of materialistic knowledge that leads just to an improvement of one's material position was already condemned. This idea will be further emphasized in the next verses, where the destination of karmis who attain svarga-loka by performing ritual sacrifices is described and equally frowned upon.
Taking into consideration the context, it becomes clear that in this verse, Angirasa is not recommending the performance of ordinary fruitive sacrifices destined to elevate one to the heavenly planets. This conversation happened (before the Srimad Bhagavatam) in Naimiṣāraṇya, where the sages led by Śaunaka Rsi were performing a one-thousand-year-long sacrifice. Śaunaka inquired about the ultimate goal of the Vedas, the unifying knowledge about the Supreme that allows one to reconnect with Him in devotional service. It's clear thus that Angirasa is answering in this context, urging the great sages to perform sacrifices with the same pure mentality as the great sages of Satya-yuga practiced silent meditation in the syllable Om, as an offering to the Supreme, with the goal of pleasing Him and no one else.
Madhvācārya interprets this verse in line with the ideas given in his commentary to verse 1.1.5, with Angirasa urging the sages to practice sacrifices in the unified understanding that all is connected with the Lord, and everything should be used in His service. In other words, he urges the sages to practice sacrifices in pure devotional service, as a loving offering to the Lord, just like originally understood by the great sages in Satya-yuga (parā-vidyā), and not as mere ritualistic ceremonies, or as sacrifices for demigods, as introduced with the beginning of Treta-yuga (aparā-vidyā).
Key in this interpretation given by Madhvācārya are the words "satya-kāmāḥ", which indicate one trying to please the Lord. This reveals the true purpose of the verse in connection with devotional service to the Lord. As Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-gita, "A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries."
Angirasa urges the sages in Naimiṣāraṇya to execute sacrifices in full Krsna consciousness, as an offering to the Lord, and thus find their way back home, back to Godhead. As Krsna explains in the Bhagavad-gita:
bhoktāram yajña-tapasām, sarva-loka-maheśvaram
suhṛdam sarva-bhūtānām, jñātvā mām śāntim ṛcchati
"A person in full consciousness of Me, knowing Me to be the ultimate beneficiary of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods, and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attains peace from the pangs of material miseries." (Bg 5.29).