All the great acharyas have established that the goal of all knowledge is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Sri Hari and surrendering to Him in full devotional service is the perfection of human life. This is also declared by the Lord Himself as Gitacharya "vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah" – I’m alone to be known by the study of all the Vedas. The Vedas (Aitareya Aranyaka) also express this point clearly as
sarvaah rcah sarve vedah sarve ghoshah ekaiva vyaahratih ekaiva vyaahratih praana eveti
"All the Riks, all the Veda Mantras, all the sacred vibrations have only one meaning, only one meaning, the Supreme Lord who is called Praana since he is the Supreme living force behind all that exists".
Though the Vedas and Puranas give detailed account of the nature of the Supreme Lord, ourselves and material creation, when studied without proper guidance of an acharya, results in wrong conclusion / no conclusion, no matter however great scholars we are. Adolph Hitler, the famous dictator of Germany was very much interested in the spiritual tradition of the Vedas and he arranged for a group of scholars (well educated in Sanskrit) to visit India and make a thorough study of the Vedas. Those scholars spent several years in studying the Vedic literature but unfortunately ended up in wrong conclusions which they submitted to Hitler. The conclusions were very pleasing to Hitler but not to the Supreme Lord who is the central theme of all knowledge. The gist of their study was
1. The Vedas are mental speculations of the Ancient Sages who twisted their brains by observing the nature.
2. The Itihaasa, puranas are mythological compositions written to fascinate the mass of people.
3. The Aryans mentioned in the Vedas are Germans with white and bright skin.
4. The Vedas have divergent views (without a proper conclusion) and talks different paths like Karma Kanda, Meditation, jnana, austerities etc.
5. The Vedas advocate caste System based on birth.
6. The Vedas lack conception of a Personal God and advocate polytheism (multiplicity of gods like Indra, Varuna, Agni etc.,) with the ultimate Truth as Impersonal without name, form and qualities.
This view became popularized in many ways and many scholars from Britain and America concurred with these views. With the result, many aspects of the Sanatana dharma became an object of ridicule for many people. I met a person who is a native of Pakistan who told me that , "The caste system and Polytheism are the biggest jokes in the Sanatana dharma. No other bonafide religion talks this way. There is no concept of a Single Personal God (montheism) in the Vedas".
All these misconceptions were cleared completely when Srila Prabhupada presented the conclusion of the Vedas as "Bhakti Vedanta" (Vedanta of Devotion) as his name itself suggests. After this only people started realizing that Vedas have a definitive conclusion and they are not mere speculations but breathing of the Supreme Being. This was possible because Srila Prabhupada’s preaching was based on Srimad Bhagavatam which is the distilled essence of the Vedas. It reconciles all the divergent views of the Vedas towards the Supreme Lord in just two verses (SB 2.5.15-16), thereby solving all confusion.
narayana para veda / deva narayanangajaah
narayana para loka / narayana para makhah
narayana paro yogo / narayana param tapaha
narayana param jnanam / narayana para gatih
"The Vedic literatures are made by and are meant for the Supreme Lord, the demigods are also meant for serving the Lord as parts of His body, the different planets are also meant for the sake of the Lord, and different sacrifices are performed just to please Him. All different types of meditation or mysticism are means for realizing Narayana. All austerities are aimed at achieving Narayana. Culture of transcendental knowledge is for getting a glimpse of Narayana, and ultimately salvation is entering the kingdom of Narayana."
The above unambiguous and clear conclusion can be found only in Srimad Bhagavata purana and may not be attained even after studying the scriptures for many many lifetimes. It was presented by Srila Prabhupada in a direct, simple and powerful way all over the world and with the result even people who are not familiar with the Vedas are able to appreciate the message and even dedicate their lives.
Once I asked a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and a very senior devotee, "Prabhu, What is the proof that the statements like Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam are true?". He replied, "In these scriptures it is explained that the person who follows the principles of bhakti yoga becomes a lover of God and he becomes indifferent to the dualities of the world. Srila Prabhupada has practically demonstrated this by making people from different backgrounds to be sincere devotees of Lord Krishna and now they exhibit all the qualities of devotees mentioned in these scriptures. What more proof you need?".
Let us all pray to Srila Prabhupada and the spiritual master to shower their grace upon us so that we understand that the conclusion of the Vedas is Lord Sri Krishna and surrender to Him in all humility.
Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva,
Narahari Krishna Dasa
Chennai.
Disclaimer: This article was originally published in the Yahoo Groups run by the disciples of H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/granthraj/ by the devotee name mentioned above. The posting in this article, is original realizations of our Guru Maharaj and the devotee who wrote this. Any comments regarding this article would be passed on directly to the devotee. In this article, ‘Maharaj’ and ‘Gurudev’ implicitly refer to our spiritual master H H Mahavishnu Goswami Maharaj.
