आहुर्धूम्रधियो वेदं सकर्मकमतद्विदः ॥४८॥
svaá¹ lokaá¹ na vidus te vai
yatra devo janÄrdanaḥ
Ähur dhÅ«mra-dhiyo vedaá¹
sakarmakam atad-vidaḥ
svam - own; lokam - abode; na - never; viduḥ - know; te - such persons; vai - certainly; yatra - where; devaḥ - the Supreme Personality of Godhead; janÄrdanaḥ - Kṛṣṇa, or Viṣṇu; Ähuḥ - speak; dhÅ«mra-dhiyaḥ - the less intelligent class of men; vedam - the four Vedas; sa-karmakam - full of ritualistic ceremonies; a-tat-vidaḥ - persons who are not in knowledge.
Those who are less intelligent accept the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies as all in all. They do not know that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand one’s own home, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead lives. Not being interested in their real home, they are illusioned and search after other homes.
Generally people are not aware of their interest in life — to return home, back to Godhead. People do not know about their real home in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world there are many Vaikuṇá¹ha planets, and the topmost planet is Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vá¹›ndÄvana. Despite the so-called advancement of civilization, there is no information of the Vaikuṇá¹halokas, the spiritual planets. At the present moment so-called advanced civilized men are trying to go to other planets, but they do not know that even if they go to the highest planetary system, Brahmaloka, they have to come back again to this planet. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (8.16):
Äbrahma-bhuvanÄl lokÄḥ
punar Ävartino ’rjuna
mÄm upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
“From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of KuntÄ«, never takes birth again.â€
If one goes to the highest planetary system within this universe he still has to return after the effects of pious activities are finished. Space vehicles may go very high in the sky, but as soon as their fuel is finished, they have to return to this earthly planet. All these activities are performed in illusion. The real attempt should now be to return home, back to Godhead. The process is mentioned in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ. YÄnti mad-yÄjino ’pi mÄm: those who engage in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead return home, back to Godhead. Human life is very valuable, and one should not waste it in vain exploration of other planets. One should be intelligent enough to return to Godhead. One should be interested in information about the spiritual Vaikuṇá¹ha planets, and in particular the planet known as Goloka Vá¹›ndÄvana, and should learn the art of going there by the simple method of devotional service, beginning with hearing (Å›ravaṇaá¹ kÄ«rtanaá¹ viṣṇoḥ). This is also confirmed in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (12.3.51):
kaler doá¹£a-nidhe rÄjann
asti hy eko mahÄn guṇaḥ
kÄ«rtanÄd eva kṛṣṇasya
mukta-saṅgaḥ paraṠvrajet
One can go to the supreme planet (paraá¹ vrajet) simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. This is especially meant for the people of this age (kaler doá¹£a-nidhe). It is the special advantage of this age that simply by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahÄ-mantra one can become purified of all material contamination and return home, back to Godhead. There is no doubt about this.
