सर्वे मनः प्रभृतयः सहदेवमर्त्याः ।
आद्यन्तवन्त उरुगाय विदन्ति हि त्वा
मेवं विमृश्य सुधियो विरमन्ति शब्दात् ॥४९॥
naite guá¹‡Ä na guṇino mahad-Ädayo ye
sarve manaḥ prabhá¹›tayaḥ sahadeva-martyÄḥ
Ädy-antavanta urugÄya vidanti hi tvÄm
evaá¹ vimṛśya sudhiyo viramanti Å›abdÄt
1 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: LSB(1)
na - neither; ete - all these; guṇÄḥ - three qualities of material nature; na - nor; guṇinaḥ - the predominating deities of the three modes of material nature (namely Lord BrahmÄ, the predominating deity of passion, and Lord Åšiva, the predominating deity of ignorance); mahat-Ädayaḥ - the five elements, the senses and the sense objects; ye - those which; sarve - all; manaḥ - the mind; prabhá¹›tayaḥ - and so on; saha-deva-martyÄḥ - with the demigods and the mortal human beings; Ädi-anta-vantaḥ - who all have a beginning and end; urugÄya - O Supreme Lord, who are glorified by all saintly persons; vidanti - understand; hi - indeed; tvÄm - Your Lordship; evam - thus; vimṛśya - considering; sudhiyaḥ - all wise men; viramanti - cease; Å›abdÄt - from studying or understanding the Vedas.
Neither the three modes of material nature [sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa], nor the predominating deities controlling these three modes, nor the five gross elements, nor the mind, nor the demigods nor the human beings can understand Your Lordship, for they are all subjected to birth and annihilation. Considering this, the spiritually advanced have taken to devotional service. Such wise men hardly bother with Vedic study. Instead, they engage themselves in practical devotional service.
As stated in several places, bhaktyÄ mÄm abhijÄnÄti: only by devotional service can the Supreme Lord be understood. The intelligent person, the devotee, does not bother much about the practices mentioned in text 46 (mauna-vrata-Å›ruta-tapo-’dhyayana-sva-dharma). After understanding the Supreme Lord through devotional service, such devotees are no longer interested in studies of the Vedas. Indeed, this is confirmed in the Vedas also. The Vedas say, kim arthÄ vayam adhyeá¹£yÄmahe kim arthÄ vayam vaká¹£yÄmahe. What is the use of studying so many Vedic literatures? What is the use of explaining them in different ways? Vayam vaká¹£yÄmahe. No one needs to study any more Vedic literatures, nor does anyone need to describe them by philosophical speculation. Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (2.52) also says:
yadÄ te moha-kalilaá¹
buddhir vyatitariá¹£yati
tadÄ gantÄsi nirvedaá¹
śrotavyasya śrutasya ca
When one understands the Supreme Personality of Godhead by executing devotional service, one ceases the practice of studying the Vedic literature. Elsewhere it is said, ÄrÄdhito yadi haris tapasÄ tataḥ kim. If one can understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead and engage in His service, there is no more need of severe austerities, penances and so on. However, if after performing severe austerities and penances one does not understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such practices are useless.
