Text 19] Appearance of Sri Narada 209

TEXT 19

RIMINI AR AAT 128

catur-hotram karma suddham
prajanam viksya vaidikam

vyadadhad yajiia-santatyai
vedam ekam catur-vidham

catuh—four; hotram—sacrificial fires; karma suddham—purification of
work; prajanam—of the people in general; viksya—after seeing; vaidikam—
according to Vedic rites; vyadadhat—made into; yajfa—sacrifice; santatyai
—to expand; vedam ekam—only one Veda; catuh-vidham—in four divisions.

TRANSLATION

He saw that the sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas were means by
which the people’s occupations could be purified. And to simplify the
process he divided the one Veda into four, in order to expand them
among men.

PURPORT

Formerly there was only the Veda of the name Yajus, and the four
divisions of sacrifices were there specifically mentioned. But to make them
more easily performable, the Veda was divided into four divisions of
sacrifice, just to purify the occupational service of the four orders. Above
the four Vedas, namely Rk, Yajus, Sdma, and Atharva, there are the
Puranas, the Mahabharata, Samhitas, etc., which are known as the fifth
Veda, Sri Vyasadeva and his many disciples were all historical personalities,
and they were very kind and sympathetic toward the fallen souls of this
age of Kali. As such, the Puranas and Mahabharata were made from related
historical facts which explained the teaching of the four Vedas. There is no
point in doubting the authority of the Puranas and Mahabharata as parts
and parcels of the Vedas. In the Chandogya Upanisad, the Puranas and
Mahabharata, generally known as histories, are mentioned as the fifth
Veda. According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, that is the way of ascertaining the
respective values of the revealed scriptures.
