त एते ऋषयो वेदं स्वं स्वं व्यस्यन्ननेकधा । शिष्यै: प्रशिष्यैस्तच्छिष्यैर्वेदास्ते शाखिनोऽभवन् ॥ २३॥

ta eta ṛṣayo vedaá¹
svaá¹ svaá¹ vyasyann anekadhÄ
śiṣyaiḥ praśiṣyais tac-chiṣyair
vedÄs te Å›Äkhino 'bhavan

 te - they; ete - all these; á¹›á¹£ayaḥ - learned scholars; vedam - the respective Vedas; svam svam - in their own entrusted matters; vyasyan - rendered; anekadhÄ - many; Å›iá¹£yaiḥ - disciples; praÅ›iá¹£yaiḥ - grand-disciples; tat-Å›iá¹£yaiḥ - great grand-disciples; vedÄḥ te - followers of the respective Vedas; Å›Äkhinaḥ - different branches; abhavan - thus became.


Text

All these learned scholars, in their turn, rendered their entrusted Vedas unto their many disciples, granddisciples and great-granddisciples, and thus the respective branches of the followers of the Vedas came into being.

Purport

The original source of knowledge is the Vedas. There are no branches of knowledge, either mundane or transcendental, which do not belong to the original text of the Vedas. They have simply been developed into different branches. They were originally rendered by great, respectable and learned professors. In other words, the Vedic knowledge, broken into different branches by different disciplic successions, has been distributed all over the world. No one, therefore, can claim independent knowledge beyond the Vedas.