सखापि ते भारतमाह कृष्णः ।
यस्मिन्नृणां ग्राम्यसुखानुवादै
र्मतिर्गृहीता नु हरेः कथायाम् ॥१२॥
munir vivaká¹£ur bhagavad-guṇÄnÄá¹
sakhÄpi te bhÄratam Äha kṛṣṇaḥ
yasmin nṛṇÄá¹ grÄmya-sukhÄnuvÄdair
matir gá¹›hÄ«tÄ nu hareḥ kathÄyÄm
muniḥ - the sage; vivaká¹£uḥ - described; bhagavat - of the Personality of Godhead; guṇÄnÄm - transcendental qualities; sakhÄ - friend; api - also; te - your; bhÄratam - the MahÄbhÄrata; Äha - has described; kṛṣṇaḥ - Kṛṣṇa-dvaipÄyana VyÄsa; yasmin - in which; nṛṇÄm - of the people; grÄmya - worldly; sukha-anuvÄdaiḥ - pleasure derived from mundane topics; matiḥ - attention; gá¹›hÄ«tÄ nu - just to draw towards; hareḥ - of the Lord; kathÄyÄm - speeches of (Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ).
Your friend the great sage Kṛṣṇa-dvaipÄyana VyÄsa has already described the transcendental qualities of the Lord in his great work the MahÄbhÄrata. But the whole idea is to draw the attention of the mass of people to kṛṣṇa-kathÄ [Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ] through their strong affinity for hearing mundane topics.
The great sage Kṛṣṇa-dvaipÄyana VyÄsa is the author of all Vedic literature, of which his works VedÄnta-sÅ«tra, ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam and MahÄbhÄrata are very popular readings. As stated in BhÄgavatam (1.4.25), ÅšrÄ«la VyÄsadeva compiled the MahÄbhÄrata for the less intelligent class of men, who take more interest in mundane topics than in the philosophy of life. The VedÄnta-sÅ«tra was compiled for persons already above the mundane topics, who might already have tasted the bitterness of the so-called happiness of mundane affairs. The first aphorism of VedÄnta-sÅ«tra is athÄto brahma-jijñÄsÄ, i.e., only when one has finished the business of mundane inquiries in the marketplace of sense gratification can one make relevant inquiries regarding Brahman, the Transcendence. Those persons who are busy with the mundane inquiries which fill the newspapers and other such literatures are classified as strÄ«-śūdra-dvija-bandhus, or women, the laborer class and unworthy sons of the higher classes (brÄhmaṇa, ká¹£atriya and vaiÅ›ya). Such less intelligent men cannot understand the purpose of VedÄnta-sÅ«tra, although they may make a show of studying the sÅ«tras in a perverted way. The real purpose of VedÄnta-sÅ«tra is explained by the author himself in the ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, and anyone trying to understand VedÄnta-sÅ«tra without reference to ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam is certainly misguided. Such misguided persons, who are interested in the mundane affairs of philanthropic and altruistic work under the misconception of the body as the self, could better take advantage of the MahÄbhÄrata, which was specifically compiled by ÅšrÄ«la VyÄsadeva for their benefit. The great author has compiled the MahÄbhÄrata in such a way that the less intelligent class of men, who are more interested in mundane topics, may read the MahÄbhÄrata with great relish and in the course of such mundane happiness can also take advantage of Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, the preliminary study of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam or the VedÄnta-sÅ«tra. ÅšrÄ«la VyÄsadeva had no interest in writing a history of mundane activities other than to give less intelligent persons a chance for transcendental realization through Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ. Vidura’s reference to the MahÄbhÄrata indicates that he had heard of the MahÄbhÄrata from VyÄsadeva, his real father, while he was away from home and was touring the places of pilgrimage.
