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The natural conclusion is: as there was no such religion three thousand years and the Vedic religion has no history - it is coming from time immemorial - that was the religion

Expressions researched:
"the natural conclusion is: as there was no such religion three thousand years and the Vedic religion has no history" |"it is coming from time immemorial" |"that was the religion"

Lectures

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

So from historical point of view, suppose one religion is current for the last three thousand years. Then what was their condition before three thousand years?

So the natural conclusion is: as there was no such religion three thousand years and the Vedic religion has no history—it is coming from time immemorial—that was the religion.

In the words of conditioned soul there are so many deficiencies. Why? The deficiencies are that bhrama . . . any conditioned soul, however great he may be, he must commit mistakes. That is one of the deficiencies. In this material world, however great one may be in the estimation of the general populace, he is not above committing mistakes. "To err is human," as it is said. He'll commit mistake.

Bhrama, pramāda. And pramāda means to accept something as something, something else. Just like the most erudite scholar, he also accepts that, "This body is the self. There is no soul." Others . . . there are many scholars, they do not accept that there is soul differently. "This body is everything." That is called pramāda.

Bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā. Vipralipsā means cheating. Every conditioned soul has a cheating propensity. "For my purpose, to fulfill my purpose, I say something to you which is not beneficial to you, but still, I impress that this is right." That is called cheating. And karaṇa-pāṭava. Karaṇa means the senses. The senses are also imperfect. I am seeing the sun daily with my eyes, but still, I have no full knowledge of the sun, because my eyes are imperfect. If there is any sound upstairs, and I inquire, "What is this sound?"

(aside) Why he is crying so much? What is that? (man talking loudly outside the room)

Haṁsadūta: Telephone.

Prabhupāda: Oh, telephone. Oh. That's all right. So Śrīdhara Svāmī says that vedena praṇihita vihita dharmaḥ sa ca veda-pramāṇaka ity arthaḥ. Unless it is verified by the words of the Vedas, that cannot be accepted as authoritative.

Anena yo veda-pramakaḥ sa dharmaḥ. Now, it is concluded that "Anything which is supported by the Vedic injunction, that is dharma." Sa dharma yo 'dharmo na veda pramāṇakaḥ: "And any dharma which is not corroborated by the Vedas, that is not dharma. That is not accepted as religion." Iti svarūpaḥ pramāṇaṁ ca ity uktam(?). Now, that is the characteristic of dharma, svarūpa. So if we want to understand what is dharma, then the test should be whether it is corroborated by the Vedas. Then it is dharma. Otherwise it is . . .

Now, the question may be that the Indians or the followers of the Vedas . . . now it has become so. Actually, the followers of Vedas are everyone. Every human being is the followers of Veda, because the history of all other religions, they are all recent—one thousand year, two thousand years, three thousand years—but you cannot trace out the history of the Vedic religion. So from historical point of view, suppose one religion is current for the last three thousand years. Then what was their condition before three thousand years?

So the natural conclusion is: as there was no such religion three thousand years and the Vedic religion has no historyit is coming from time immemorialthat was the religion. Take for example in India. Twenty years before there was no Pakistan, but now there is Pakistan. Under certain circumstances, the religious principle has changed, but originally every human being on this planet were following the Vedic religion. And another sense, everyone is following the Vedic religion if it is religion.

How? In the Bhagavad-gītā you will find that vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15). Sarvaṁ vedam: "all Vedas." "All Vedas" means originally there was one Veda, Ṛg Veda, or somebody says Atharva Veda. Then, later on it was divided into four: Ṛg, Sāma, Yajur, Atharva. Then, from the Vedic injunction, then it was summarized, which is called Vedānta, summarized in sūtras: janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), athāto brahma jijñāsā.

In the sūtra there are so many meanings. Then the Upaniṣads, 108 Upaniṣads, they are also Vedic. Then they were explained further for ordinary men—the Purāṇas. They are also Vedas. Then it was further explained by Mahābhārata. So that is also Vedas. Rāmāyaṇa, that is also Vedas.

Page Title:The natural conclusion is: as there was no such religion three thousand years and the Vedic religion has no history - it is coming from time immemorial - that was the religion
Compiler:SharmisthaK
Created:2022-08-28, 14:41:15
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1