न शक्तस्त्वं बलाद्धर्तुं वैदेहीहिं मम पश्यतः।
हेतुभिर्न्यायसंयुक्तैर्ध्रुवां वेदश्रुतीमिव॥
na śaktas tvaṁ balād dhartuṁ vaidehīṁ mama paśyataḥ
hetubhir nyāya-saṁyuktair dhruvāṁ veda-śrutīm iva
na śaktaḥ = cannot; tvam = you; balāt = forcibly; hartum = abduct; vaidehīm = Vaidehī; mama paśyataḥ = while I bear witness; hetubhiḥ = by arguments; nyāya-saṁyuktaiḥ = that seem reasonable; dhruvām = of invincible validity; veda-śrutīm = [one cannot usefully misinterpret] the Vedic Śruti; iva = just as.
You cannot forcibly abduct Vaidehī while I bear witness, just as [one cannot usefully misinterpret] the Vedic Śruti, which possesses invincible validity, by arguments that seem reasonable.1
1 This translation is partially based on Rāmāyaṇa-bhāva-dīpa: nyāya-yuktaiḥ āpātataḥ hetubhiḥ hetv-ābhāsaiḥ śrutīm ity atra dīrgha ārṣaḥ. yadvā śrutiḥ ktin-pratyayānto ’yaṁ. tataś ca “kṛdikārāt” iti ṅīṣ. Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: dhruvāṁ niścalāṁ avicālya-prāmāṇyām iti yāvat.
1 The Veda is not authoritative because of logical inference or sense perception, that is, it is not that the Veda is valid only when sense perception or logical inference agrees with it. Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: vedayatīti vedaḥ. svataḥ-pramāṇa-bhūtāṁ śrutim ity arthaḥ.
2 In other words, we should not confuse the teachings of the Vedas with misinterpretations of those teachings. The teachings of the Vedas are free from mistakes, illusions, cheating and sensory inefficiency since they are the words of the Supreme Lord Himself. See Prabhupāda’s purport to Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 7.107. Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: anya-parārtha-vādādi-vyāvṛtty-artho veda-śabdaḥ. In Śrī Govindarāja’s commentary, this portion appears a little later. In the English rendition, we have placed it earlier to better aid comprehension.
3 “Injured” meaning “affected.”
4 asya mahato bhūtasya niḥśvasitam etad ṛg-vedo yajur-vedaḥ sāma-vedo ’tharvāṅgirasa itihāsaḥ purāṇaṁ vidyā upaniṣadaḥ ślokāḥ sūtrāṇy anuvyākhyānāni sarvāṇi niḥśvasitāni.
5 vedasya prāmāṇye hetuḥ, vedo nārāyaṇād udbhūtaḥ sa eva sākṣād ity upacāraḥ. svayaṁ-bhūr iti ca niḥśvāsa-mātreṇa svayam eva bhavatīti. tathā ca śrutiḥ, “asya mahato bhūtasya niḥśvasitam etad yad ṛg-vedaḥ” iti.
6 yo brahmāṇaṁ vidadhāti pūrvaṁ yo vai vedāṁś ca gāpayati sma kṛṣṇaḥ. (Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad 1.22)
7 In other words, Śrīla Vyāsadeva explained the teachings of the Śruti in his writings: the Purāṇas, Mahābhārata, Vedānta-sūtra and so on. The quote from Readings is from its first chapter. The entire book is worth studying in detail. Prabhupāda appreciated its author for having written this book.
8 The translation is based on Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s anvaya to this verse which runs as follows: he īśvara, anupalabdhe anubhavātīte arthe viṣaye mokṣe svargādau ca tathā sādhya-sādhanayoḥ api idam asya sādhyam idam asya sādhanam iti jñāne ca tava tvadīya-vākya-rūpaḥ vedaḥ eva pitṛ-deva-manuṣyāṇāṁ śreyaḥ cakṣuḥ tu śreṣṭha-sādhanaṁ bhavati.
9 These points have been logically demonstrated in Sarva-saṁvādinī to text 9 of Tattva-sandarbha.
10 The translation of these excerpts from Sarva-saṁvādinī is based on Śrī Gopīparāṇadhana dāsa Adhikārī’s translation of the same.
11 This translation is based on Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s anvaya to this verse. To better understand this verse, we invite readers of a scientific temper to read the book Mechanistic and Nonmechanistic Science by Sadāputa Prabhu (Richard L Thompson), who was one of the founding scientists of the Bhaktivedanta Institute. One of the purposes of that book is to rationally demonstrate that bhakti-yoga is entirely scientific in nature. The book has been appreciated by two Nobel laureates in physics.
12 For an elaborate discussion on (1) to (3), read Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda’s Sarva-saṁvādinī to Tattva-sandarbha 9-11; this section also talks about the additional six tātparya-liṅgas accepted by Pūrva-mīmāṁsā: śruti, liṅga, vākya, prakaraṇa, sthāna and samākhyā. (4) is covered in Tattva-sandarbha 12-22 where Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī provides detailed evidence that Itihāsas and Purāṇas clarify the teachings of Śruti and that the Purāṇas clarify the Itihāsas. Moreover, among the Purāṇas, the Purāṇas meant for a sāttvika audience clarify the Purāṇas meant for a rājasika or tāmasika audience. Among the Purāṇas meant for a sāttvika audience, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam stands supreme in clarifying the teachings of the Vedas. It is also Śrīla Vyāsadeva’s own commentary on his Brahma-sūtras which he wrote to clarify the teachings of the Vedas. Therefore, the Vedic scriptures can be properly understood by consulting the teachings of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam; all apparent differences need to be reconciled in line with Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and not the other way around. (5) to (7) are clear from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa as quoted by Śrī Madhva in his Viṣṇu-tattva-vinirṇaya, an excerpt of which reads: jñeya etaiḥ sadā-yuktaiḥ bhaktimadbhiḥ suniṣṭhitaiḥ. (8) and (9) are clear from Bhagavad-gītā 4.1-3 and 4.34 as well as Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.3.21. (10) is clear from Govinda-bhāṣya on Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.3, while (11) is pointed out by Śrī Jayatīrtha in his Tattva-prakāśikā to Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.4, which is well worth scrutinizing. (12) is a standard protocol in Pūrva-mīmāṁsā. These protocols are indicated in several scriptures. Śrī Rāmānuja writes in his Śrī-bhāṣya that a study of Pūrva-mīmāṁsā is absolutely essential to have a clear and comprehensive understanding of Vedic literature.
13 Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 22.65—śāstra-yuktye sunipuṇa, dṛḍha-śraddhā yānra / ‘uttama-adhikārī’ sei tāraye saṁsāra: “One who is expert in logic, argument and the revealed scriptures and who has firm faith in Kṛṣṇa is classified as a topmost devotee. He can deliver the whole world.”
“Vedic Śruti” refers to the self-evident Śruti which provides knowledge.1 It does not refer to misinterpretations of the Śruti and so on.2
This verse implies that when the foremost of learned and enlightened Vedic authorities bears witness, the Śruti cannot be [successfully] interpreted by [non-Vedic] rationalists with logical arguments alone to mean anything other [than its original, intended meaning] Similarly, [in the presence of Jaṭāyu, Sītā-devī cannot be carried away from where she wants to be].
When one misinterprets the Vedic Śruti, he destroys himself—the Vedic Śruti is not at all injured.3 Jaṭāyu intends to tell Rāvaṇa, “By kidnapping Sītā, you are the one who will perish. Sītā will not be injured at all. Just as the foremost of learned and enlightened Vedic authorities become intolerant of the Vedic Śruti being misinterpreted and prevents it to the best of his ability, I will prevent Sītā from being forcibly abducted by you to the best of my ability.”
NOTE. Readings in Vedic literature, an excellent summary of Vedic teachings by His Holiness Satsvarūpa dāsa Goswami, has the following to note about the self-evident nature of the Vedas:
The Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (2.4.10) informs us, “The Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda, Atharva Veda, and Itihāsas [histories like the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas] are all breathed out by the Absolute Truth. Just as one’s breath comes easily, these arise from the Supreme Brahman without any effort on His part.”4 According to the Vedic tradition, the Vedas are absolute and self-authoritative. They depend on nothing but themselves for explanation. This very principle comes from the mouth of Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā (3.15): brahmākṣara-samudbhavam. “The Vedas are directly manifested from the infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead.” The commentator Śrīdhara Svāmī (Bhāvārthadīpikā 6.1.40) points out that the Vedas are supremely authoritative because they arise from Nārāyaṇa Himself.5 […] Finally, the Atharva Veda states that Kṛṣṇa, who in the beginning instructed Brahmā, disseminated Vedic knowledge in the past.6
Thus, as we have seen, the Vedic scriptures delineate their own origin. The scriptures describe themselves as apauruṣeya, meaning that they do not come from any materially conditioned person but from the Supreme (a source transcendental to mundane duality). Vedic knowledge was imparted to Brahmā at the dawn of creation. Brahmā then instructed Nārada, whose realizations appear throughout Vedic literature.
Vedic knowledge is considered eternal, but because the material cosmos is constantly in flux, Vedic teachings constantly need reassertion. Although the material cosmos is also considered eternal, it goes through stages of creation, maintenance, and annihilation. Formerly the Vedas came down by word of mouth, but later the sage Vyāsadeva compiled all the Vedic śāstras in written form.7
The Vedas provide information about that which is beyond the range of our sense perception, all possible goals that can be attained by living beings as well as the optimal means through which such goals can be attained:
pitṛ-deva-manuṣyāṇāṁ vedaś cakṣus taveśvara
śreyas tv anupalabdhe ’rthe sādhya-sādhanayor api
[Uddhava to Lord Kṛṣṇa] “For the forefathers, demigods, and human race, O Lord, Your words in the form of the Vedas are the best source of information about what cannot ordinarily be perceived by them as well as the goals and means of progressive life.”8 (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.20.4)
In other words, the Vedas constitute flawless verbal testimony from the Supreme Personality of Godhead about the nature of reality.
Vedic Śruti is of invincible validity. What does this mean? It means that the Veda is the supreme among all sources of valid knowledge and that it cannot be controverted by any other source of valid knowledge. How this is so is stated by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his Sarva-saṁvādinī to texts 9 and 10 of Tattva-sandarbha, an excerpt of which follows:
yady api pratyakṣānumāna-śabdārṣopamānārthāpatty-abhāva-sambhavaitihya-sambhavaitihya-ceṣṭākhyāni daśa pramāṇāni viditāni, tathāpi bhrama-pramāda-vipralipsā-karaṇāpāṭava-doṣa-rahita-vacanātmakaḥ śabda eva mūlaṁ pramāṇam, anyeṣāṁ prāyaḥ puruṣa-bhramādi-doṣa-mayatayānyathā-pratīti-darśanena pramāṇaṁ vā tad-ābhāso veti puruṣair nirṇetum aśakyatvāt, tasya tu tad-abhāvāt. ato rājñā bhṛtyānām iva tenaivānyeṣāṁ baddha-mūlatvāt, tasya tu nairapekṣyāt, yathā-śakti kvacid eva tasya taiḥ sācivya-karaṇāt, svādhīnasya tasya tu tāny upamardyāpi pravṛtti-darśanāt, tena pratipādite vastuni tair viroddhum aśakyatvāt, teṣāṁ śaktibhir aspṛśye vastuni tasyaiva tu sādhakatamatvāt.
Although ten means of acquiring valid knowledge are known – sensory perception, logic, verbal testimony, the opinions of sages, analogy, hypothetical inference, absence, inclusion, tradition, and gesture – the fundamental means of knowing is but one, namely verbal testimony.
This one means consists of statements free from the flaws of inattention, false perception, the tendency to deceive, and inadequate power of the senses. Because the other nine means are mostly flawed by false perception and so on, they tend to give knowledge contrary to the facts, and so people are uncertain whether these are proper means or only shadow means of understanding.
Because this one means is free from those weaknesses, the other nine depend on it for becoming firmly rooted, just as the subjects of a king depend on him for their sustenance. Other reasons [for the superiority of flawless verbal testimony] are that it does not depend on any of the others; that although the others may assist it as far as they are able, this one independent means of knowing, in performing its function, is even seen to overrule the others; that a fact established by this one means is irreversible by the others; and finally that it is most effective in proving facts that the powers of the other means cannot even touch.9
yo nija-nija-vidvattāyai sarvair evābhyasyate, yasyādhigamena sarveṣām api sarvaiva vidvattā bhavati, yat-kṛtayaiva parama-vidvattayā pratyakṣādikam api śuddhaṁ syāt, yaś cānāditvāt svayam eva siddhaḥ, sa eva nikhilaitihya-mūla-rūpo mahā-vākya-samudāyaḥ śabdo ’tra gṛhyate. sa ca śāstram eva, tac ca veda eva, ya evānādi-siddhaḥ sarva-kāraṇasya bhagavato ’nādi-siddhaṁ punaḥ punaḥ sṛṣṭy-ādau tasmād evāvirbhūtam apauruṣeyaṁ vākyam. tad eva bhramādi-rahitaṁ sambhāvitam. tac ca sarva-janakasya tasya ca sadopadeśāyāvaśyakaṁ mantavyam. tad eva cāvyabhicāri pramāṇam. tac ca tat-kṛpayā ko ’pi ko ’pi gṛhṇāti. kutarka-karkaśā mūḍhā vā tan na gṛhṇantu nāma, teṣām apramāpadaṁ katham apayātu.
The verbal testimony we mean to indicate here is that which everyone studies to become learned and by which anyone, upon understanding it, can become learned in all subjects. It imparts the ultimate wisdom that purifies sensory perception and the other means of knowing. It is the verbal testimony self-manifest since time immemorial, the total corpus of authoritative statements, the basis of all traditional knowledge. This verbal testimony is none other than the revealed scripture known as the Vedas, the eternally manifest verbal expression that has no human author and that appears, with no beginning in time, from the cause of all, the Personality of Godhead. It appears from Him again and again at the beginning of each cycle of creation.
Only the Vedas can be considered to be free from faults such as delusion and they must always be accepted as authoritative by those who want to receive the instructions of the Lord, the generator of all. The Vedas are the infallible means for correct knowledge, and it is by the mercy of the Supreme Lord that some people accept them. Let fools with hearts hardened by faulty logic reject them. What can be done to dispel the misfortune of such fools? They have no means for acquiring reliable knowledge.10
Vedic knowledge is objectively verifiable. This is clear from statements such as the following:
yathā yathātmā parimṛjyate ’sau
mat-puṇya-gāthā-śravaṇābhidhānaiḥ
tathā tathā paśyati vastu sūkṣmaṁ
cakṣur yathaivāñjana-samprayuktam
[Lord Kṛṣṇa to Uddhava:] “When a diseased eye is treated with medicinal ointment it gradually recovers its power to see. Similarly, as a conscious living entity cleanses himself of material contamination by hearing and chanting the pious narrations of My glories, he regains his ability to see Me, the Absolute Truth, in My transcendental form.”11 (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.14.26)
If one interprets the Vedas according to his own imagination, he will not be able to fulfill the purpose of the Vedas—which is to help its students acquire the verifiable information mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.20.4 quoted above. Even in the material sphere, if one misinterprets a standard authoritative text on Sanskrit grammar such as Śrī Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī, he will be unable to fulfill its purpose, which is to help its student generate grammatically correct sentences in Sanskrit.
Therefore, Vedic texts have protocols to help the student correctly understand and realize their teachings: (1) One should strive to understand the direct meaning (abhidhā-vṛtti) of reliable testimony (śabda) in the form of the Vedas, (2) using the six signs that help one understand the purport of a scriptural text (tātparya-liṅgas), (3) with due consideration of the strength and weaknesses of scriptural statements that appear to conflict with each other (balābala-vivecana), (4) with a correct understanding of which scripture clarifies the teachings of which scripture (nirṇāyaka-nirṇeya-sambandha), (5) practice devotional service unto Lord Viṣṇu (6) while being continuously absorbed in Vedic knowledge (7) with unbreakable faith in Him (8) and in bona fide gurus who are immersed in Vedic knowledge and understanding, and who are absorbed in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, (9) and who belong to a disciplic succession of Vedic knowledge stemming from Lord Viṣṇu Himself. (10) One’s understanding of a scriptural statement should, of course, suit the context, and (11) unambiguous scriptural statements should be used to determine the meaning of ambiguous statements. (12) Before jumping to conclusions about what śāstra says about any particular topic, one should patiently consider everything it says about that topic.12
All of this is easily accomplished when one strictly follows the teachings of a bona fide spiritual master in a line of perfectly realized souls who have adhered to these protocols. Therefore, we repeatedly and emphatically request our readers to submissively and carefully read through the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda which correctly and effectively present the essence of Vedic knowledge in a manner suitable to the current day and time.
In the active presence of an authority on the Vedas who has first-class knowledge and understanding of Vedic teachings as well as full-fledged realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead because of his unshaken adherence to the above protocols, it is not possible for misinterpretations of Vedic teachings to prevail because with expertise in scriptural argument and evidence he will refute such misinterpretations and reveal the true intentions of the scriptures.13