200 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Madhya-lila, Ch. 20
sarvajfia munira vakya——Sdstra-‘paramdana’
dma-saba jivera haya sastra-dvara ‘jana’
SYNONYMS

sarva-jfia munira vakya—the words of the omniscient muni (Vyasadeva);
sastra-paramana—evidence of revealed scriptures; 4md-sabd—all of us; jivera—of
the conditioned souls; haya—there is; sastra-dvara—through the medium of
revealed scriptures; jfidna—knowledge.

TRANSLATION

“The Vedic literatures composed by the omniscient Mahamuni Vyadsadeva
are evidence of all spiritual existence. Only through these revealed scriptures
can all conditioned souls attain knowledge.

PURPORT

Foolish people try to concoct knowledge by manufacturing something in their
brains. That is not the real way of knowledge. Knowledge is sabda-pramdna, evi-
dence from Vedic literature. Srila Vyasadeva is called Mahamuni. He is also known
as Vedavyasa because he has compiled so many Sdastras. He has divided the Vedas
into four divisions— Sama, Rg, Yajur and Atharva. He has expanded the Vedas into
eighteen Puranas and has summarized Vedic knowledge in the Vedanta-sttra. He
also compiled the Mahabharata, which is accepted as the fifth Veda. Bhagavad-gita
is contained within the Mahabharata. Therefore Bhagavad-gitad is also Vedic
literature (smrti). Some of the Vedic literatures are called Srutis, and some are
called smrtis. Srila RGpa Gosvamit recommends in Bhakti-rasdmrta-sindhu
(1.2.101):

Sruti-smrti-puranadi-
paficaratra-vidhim vind
aikantiki harer bhaktir
utpatayaiva kalpate

Unless one refers to sdastra (sruti, smrti and purandadi), one’s spiritual activity simply
disturbs society. There is no king or government to check people, and therefore
society has fallen into a chaotic condition as far as spiritual understanding is con-
cerned. Taking advantage of this chaotic condition, many rascals have appeared
and proclaimed themselves incarnations of God. As a result, the entire population
is indulging in sinful activities such as illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat-
eating. Out of many sinful people, many incarnations of God are emerging. This is
a very regrettable situation, especially in India.
