cÄtur-hotraá¹ karma Å›uddhaá¹
prajÄnÄá¹ vÄ«ká¹£ya vaidikam
vyadadhÄd yajña-santatyai
vedam ekaá¹ catur-vidham
cÄtuḥ - four; hotram - sacrificial fires; karma Å›uddham - purification of work; prajÄnÄm - of the people in general; vÄ«ká¹£ya - after seeing; vaidikam - according to Vedic rites; vyadadhÄt - made into; yajña - sacrifice; santatyai - to expand; vedam ekam - only one Veda; catuḥ-vidham - in four divisions.
He saw that the sacrifices mentioned in the Vedas were means by which the people’s occupations could be purified. And to simplify the process he divided the one Veda into four, in order to expand them among men.
Formerly there was only the Veda of the name Yajur, and the four divisions of sacrifices were there specifically mentioned. But to make them more easily performable, the Veda was divided into four divisions of sacrifice, just to purify the occupational service of the four orders. Above the four Vedas, namely Ṛg, Yajur, SÄma, and Atharva, there are the PurÄṇas, the MahÄbhÄrata, Saá¹hitÄs, etc., which are known as the fifth Veda. ÅšrÄ« VyÄsadeva and his many disciples were all historical personalities, and they were very kind and sympathetic toward the fallen souls of this Age of Kali. As such, the PurÄṇas and MahÄbhÄrata were made from related historical facts which explained the teaching of the four Vedas. There is no point in doubting the authority of the PurÄṇas and MahÄbhÄrata as parts and parcels of the Vedas. In the ChÄndogya Upaniá¹£ad (7.1.4), the PurÄṇas and MahÄbhÄrata, generally known as histories, are mentioned as the fifth Veda. According to ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ«, that is the way of ascertaining the respective values of the revealed scriptures.
