धर्मशास्त्रेषु मुख्येषु विद्यमानेषु दुर्बुधाः।
बुद्धिमान्वीक्षिकीं प्राप्य निरर्थं प्रवदन्ति ते॥
dharma-śāstreṣu mukhyeṣu vidyamāneṣu durbudhāḥ
buddhim ānvīkṣikīṁ prāpya nirarthaṁ pravadanti te
dharma-śāstreṣu = Vedic scriptures teaching dharma; mukhyeṣu = of first-class; vidyamāneṣu = despite the continued presence; durbudhāḥ = unintelligent; buddhim ānvīkṣikīm = of dry logical conceptions; prāpya = take shelter; nirartham = useless doctrines; pravadanti = and speak; te = the.
Despite the continued presence of first-class Vedic scriptures teaching dharma, the unintelligent take shelter of dry logical conceptions and speak useless doctrines.
1 Sampradāya-paramparās refer to communities in disciplic successions from the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
They are unintelligent because their intelligence functions contrary to [the intelligence of those] following the Vedic path [of spiritual realization].
Dharma-śāstreṣu mukhyeṣu (“first-class Vedic scriptures”) refers to the sāttvika scriptures presented by great sages and honored by the saintly. These scriptures are continuously present, that is, they continue to be studied in the [authentic] sampradāya-paramparās.1
The doctrines of the unintelligent are useless because the Smṛti states:
ārṣaṁ dharmopadeśaṁ ca veda-śāstrāvirodhinā
yas tarkeṇānusandhatte sa dharmaṁ veda netaraḥ
“No one other than he who logically scrutinizes the instructions of dharma given by the sages without contradicting the Vedic scriptures understands dharma.” (Manu-smṛti 12.106)
NOTE. If one does not submissively consult the Vedic literatures, one cannot understand (a) the existence and nature of entities that lie beyond the range of one’s sense perception [and hence his logical inference too], and (b) the existence and nature of cause-effect relationships between this life and one’s life after death. This is stated as follows in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.20.4):
pitṛ-deva-manuṣyānāṁ vedaś cakṣus taveśvara
śreyas tv anupalabdhe ’rthe sādhya-sādhanayor api
[Uddhava to Lord Kṛṣṇa:] “My dear Lord, to understand those things beyond direct experience — such as spiritual liberation or the attainment of heaven and similar material enjoyments — and in general to understand the means and end of all things, it is imperative that the forefathers, demigods and human beings consult the Vedic literatures, for these literatures, being Your own laws, constitute the highest evidence and revelation.”
Apart from that, knowledge of the Absolute Truth comes from the mode of goodness: sattvāt sañjāyate jñānam (Bhagavad-gītā 14.17). There are Vedic scriptures meant for those fixed in the mode of goodness; such scriptures reveal the inner purpose of the Vedas since people in the mode of goodness are capable of understanding it. Those caught up in the modes of passion and ignorance are obsessed with obtaining immediate and delayed sense enjoyment, which prevents them from understanding higher philosophical truths; therefore, the Vedic scriptures for such people intentionally do not reveal the inner purpose of the Vedas but prepare them to gradually uplift themselves to sattva-guṇa after which they become capable of understanding the truth about the world, the souls and God. See Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s Tattva-sandarbha (sections 8 to 26) and the Sarva-saṁvādinī to these sections.