श्रीशुक उवाच
भरतस्यात्मजः सुमतिर्नामाभिहितो यमु ह वाव केचित्पाखण्डिन
ऋषभपदवीमनुवर्तमानं चानार्या अवेदसमाम्नातां देवतां स्वमनीषया पापीयस्या
कलौ कल्पयिष्यन्ति ॥१॥

Å›rÄ«-Å›uka uvÄca
bharatasyÄtmajaḥ sumatir nÄmÄbhihito yam u ha vÄva kecit pÄkhaṇá¸ina ṛṣabha-padavÄ«m anuvartamÄnaá¹ cÄnÄryÄ aveda-samÄmnÄtÄá¹ devatÄá¹ sva-manÄ«á¹£ayÄ pÄpÄ«yasyÄ kalau kalpayiá¹£yanti

 Å›rÄ«-Å›ukaḥ uvÄca - ÅšrÄ« Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« continued to speak; bharatasya - of Bharata MahÄrÄja; Ätma-jaḥ - the son; sumatiḥ nÄma-abhihitaḥ - named Sumati; yam - unto whom; u ha vÄva - indeed; kecit - some; pÄkhaṇá¸inaḥ - atheists, men without Vedic knowledge; á¹›á¹£abha-padavÄ«m - the path of King Ṛṣabhadeva; anuvartamÄnam - following; ca - and; anÄryÄḥ - not belonging to the Ä€ryans who strictly follow the Vedic principles; aveda-samÄmnÄtÄm - not enumerated in the Vedas; devatÄm - to be Lord Buddha or a similar Buddhist deity; sva-manÄ«á¹£ayÄ - by their own mental speculation; pÄpÄ«yasyÄ - most sinful; kalau - in this age of Kali; kalpayiá¹£yanti - will imagine.


Text

ÅšrÄ«la Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« continued: The son of MahÄrÄja Bharata known as Sumati followed the path of Ṛṣabhadeva, but in the Age of Kali some unscrupulous people will imagine him to be Lord Buddha himself. These people, who will actually be atheistic and of bad character, will interpret the Vedic principles in an imaginary, infamous way to support their activities. Thus these sinful people will accept Sumati as Lord Buddhadeva and propagate the theory that everyone should follow the principles of Sumati. In this way they will be carried away by mental concoction.

Purport

Those who are Ä€ryans strictly follow the Vedic principles, but in this Age of Kali a community has sprung up known as the Arya Samaj, who members are ignorant of the import of the Vedas in the paramparÄ system. They decry all bona fide ÄcÄryas and pose themselves as the real followers of the Vedic principles, but in fact such non-Ä€ryans do not follow the Vedic principles. Another group of non-Ä€ryans are the Jains, who are referred to in the present verse. Not only do they not follow the Vedic principles, but they have no relationship with Lord Buddha, though they claim to. Imitating the behavior of Sumati, they also claim to be descendants of Ṛṣabhadeva. Those who are Vaiṣṇavas carefully avoid their company because they are ignorant of the path of the Vedas. In Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (15.15) Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiÅ› ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: “The real purpose of the Vedas is to understand Me.†This is the injunction of all Vedic literatures. One who does not know the greatness of Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot be accepted as an Ä€ryan. Lord Buddha, an incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, adopted a particular means to propagate the philosophy of bhÄgavata-dharma. He preached almost exclusively among atheists. Atheists do not want any God, and Lord Buddha therefore said that there is no God, but he adopted the means to instruct his followers for their benefit. Therefore he preached in a duplicitous way, saying that there is no God. Nonetheless, he himself was an incarnation of God.