116
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 2, Ch. 2]
TRANSLATION
“Your Majesty Mahārāja Parīkṣit, know that all that I have described in reply to your proper inquiry is just according to the version of the Vedas, and it is eternal truth. This was described personally by Lord Kṛṣṇa unto Brahmā, with whom the Lord was satisfied upon being properly worshiped.
PURPORT
The two different ways of reaching the spiritual sky and thereby getting emancipation from all material bondage, namely either by the direct process of reaching the kingdom of God or by gradual process through the other higher planets of the universe, are set forth exactly according to the version of the  Vedas . The Vedic versions in this connection are,  yadā sarve pramucyante kāmā ye'sya hṛdi sthitāḥ/ atha martyo'mṛto bhavanty atra brahma samaśnute  and  te'rcir abhisambhavanti : “Those who are free from all material desires, which are diseases of the heart, are able to conquer death and enter the kingdom of God through the Arci planets.” These Vedic versions corroborate the version of the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , and the latter is further confirmed by Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who affirms that the truth was disclosed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Vāsudeva, to Brahmā, the first authority of the  Vedas . The discipline succession holds that the  Vedas  were uttered by Lord Kṛṣṇa to Brahmā, from Brahmā to Nārada, and from Nārada to Vyāsadeva, and then from Vyāsadeva to Śukadeva Gosvāmī and so on. So there is no difference between the version of all the authorities. Nor do they differ from one another. The truth is eternal, and as such there cannot be any new opinion about the truth. That is the way of knowing the knowledge contained in the  Vedas . It is not a thing to be understood by one’s erudite scholarship or by the fashionable interpretations of mundane scholars. There is nothing to be added and nothing to be subtracted, because the truth is the truth. One has to accept, after all,  some  authority. The modern scientists are also authorities for the common man for some scientific truths. The common man follows the version of the scientist. This means that the common man follows the authority. The Vedic knowledge is also received in that way. The common man cannot argue what is beyond the sky or beyond the universe, but he must accept the versions of the  Vedas  as they are understood by the authorized discipline succession. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  also the same process of understanding the  Gītā  is stated in the Fourth Chapter. If one does not