Text 25] Appearance of Sri Narada 213

TRANSLATION

Thus the great sage Vyasadeva, who is very kind to the ignorant
masses, edited the Vedas so they might be assimilated by less intellectual
men.

PURPORT

The Veda is one, and the reasons for its divisions in many parts are ex-
plained herewith. The seed of all knowlegde, or the Veda, is not a subject
matter which can easily be understood by any ordinary man. There is a
stricture that no one should try to learn the Vedas who is not a qualified
brahmana. This stricture has been wrongly interpreted in so many ways.
A class of men, who claim brahminical qualification simply by their birth
right in the family of a brahmana, claim that the study of the Vedas is a
monopoly of the brahmana caste only. Another section of the people take
this as an injustice to other castes who do not happen to take birth in a
brahmana family. But both of them are misguided. The Vedas are sub-
jects which had to be explained even to Brahmaji by the Supreme Lord.
Therefore the subject matter is understood by persons with exceptional
qualities of goodness. Persons who are in the modes of passion and ignor-
ance are unable to understand the subject matter of the Vedas. The ultimate
-goal of Vedic knowledge is Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. This
Personality is very rarely understood by those who are in the modes
of passion and ignorance. In the Satya-yuga everyone was situated
in the mode of goodness. Gradually the mode of goodness declined
during the Treta and Dvapara-yugas, and the general mass of people
became corrupt. In the present age the mode of goodness is almost nil,
and so for the general mass of people, the kindhearted, powerful sage
Srila Vyasadeva divided the Vedas in various ways so that they may be
practically followed by less intelligent persons in the modes of passion
and ignorance. It is explained in the next sloka as follows.

TEXT 25
aasaryat at a yfata |
THAT Yea FIT Ts waeE |
aha ARTS HAT HAT FAT UU
