sarvajña munira vÄkya — Å›Ästra-'paramÄṇa'
ÄmÄ-sabÄ jÄ«vera haya Å›Ästra-dvÄrÄ 'jñÄna'
sarva-jña munira vÄkya - the words of the omniscient muni (VyÄsadeva); Å›Ästra-paramÄṇa - evidence of revealed scriptures; ÄmÄ-sabÄ - all of us; jÄ«vera - of the conditioned souls; haya - there is; Å›Ästra-dvÄrÄ - through the medium of revealed scriptures; jñÄna - knowledge.
“The Vedic literatures composed by the omniscient MahÄmuni VyÄsadeva are evidence of all spiritual existence. Only through these revealed scriptures can all conditioned souls attain knowledge.
Foolish people try to concoct knowledge by manufacturing something in their brains. That is not the real way of knowledge. Knowledge is Å›abda-pramÄṇa, evidence from the Vedic literature. ÅšrÄ«la VyÄsadeva is called MahÄmuni. He is also known as VedavyÄsa because he has compiled so many Å›Ästras. He has divided the Vedas into four divisions — SÄma, Ṛg, Yajur and Atharva. He has expanded the Vedas into eighteen PurÄṇas and has summarized Vedic knowledge in the VedÄnta-sÅ«tra. He also compiled the MahÄbhÄrata, which is accepted as the fifth Veda. The Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ is contained within the MahÄbhÄrata. Therefore the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ is also Vedic literature (smá¹›ti). Some of the Vedic literatures are called Å›rutis, and some are called smá¹›tis. ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« recommends in the Bhakti-rasÄmá¹›ta-sindhu (1.2.101):
Å›ruti-smá¹›ti-purÄṇÄdi- pañcarÄtra-vidhiá¹ vinÄ
aikÄntikÄ« harer bhaktir utpÄtÄyaiva kalpate
Unless one refers to Å›Ästra (Å›ruti, smá¹›ti and purÄṇÄdi), one’s spiritual activity simply disturbs society. There is no king or government to check people, and therefore society has fallen into a chaotic condition as far as spiritual understanding is concerned. Taking advantage of this chaotic condition, many rascals have appeared and proclaimed themselves incarnations of God. As a result, the entire population is indulging in sinful activities such as illicit sex, intoxication, gambling and meat-eating. Out of many sinful people, many so-called incarnations of God are emerging. This is a very regrettable situation, especially in India.
