17

But in this Age of Quarrel there are quarrels even over the point
of the existence of Godhead. In the godless civilization of the Age
of Quarrel there are numberless societies, religious communities,
and religious sects, most of them trying to banish God from
religion. Glowworms want to be prominent in the absence of the
sun and the stars, and these small groups following various.
religious conceptions are like glowworms trying to be prominent
before the eyes of the ignorant mass of people. There are now a
number of self-made incarnations people follow without authority
from the Vedic literatures. There is regular competition between
one incarnation’s group and another’s.

The Vedic knowledge comes in a tradition from the spiritual
master through the chain of disciplic succession, and the knowl-
edge must be acquired through this chain, without deviation. In
the present Age of Quarrel the chain has been broken here and
there, and thus the Veda is now interpreted by unauthorized men
who have no realization. The so-called followers of the Vedas
deny the existence of God, as in the darkness of a cloudy evening
the glowworms deny the existence of the moon and stars. Saner
people should not be waylaid by such unscrupulous men. The
Bhagavaa-gita is the summary of all Vedic knowledge because it
is spoken by the same Personality of Godhead who imparted the
Vedic knowledge into the heart of Brahma, the first created being
in the universe. Srimad-Bhagavatam was especially spoken for
the guidance of the people of this age, which is darkened by the
cloud of ignorance.m™
