SB 1.4.24 (1962)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 24
Ta eva veda durmedhair dharyante purushair yatha
Evam chakara Bhagawan vyasah kripanavatsla.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Ta—that, Eva—certainly, Veda—the book of knowledge, Durmedhair—by the less intellectuals, Dharyate—can assimilate, Purushair—by the man, Yatha—as and as, Ebam—thus, Chakara—edited, Bhagwan—the powerful, Vyasa—the great sage of the name, Kripanavatsala—very kind to the ignorant mass.
TRANSLATION
Thus the great sage Vyasdeva, who is very kind upon the less intellectual ignorant mass of people,—edited the book of knowledge so that the same may be assimilated by such less intellectual men.
PURPORT
The Veda is one and the reasons, for its divisions in many parts, are explained herewith. The seeds of all knowledge or the Veda is not a subject matter which can easily be understood by any ordinary man. There is a stricture that nobody should try to learn Vedas,—who is not a qualified Brahmin. This stricture of the authorities has been wrongly interpreted in so many ways. A class of men, who claim Brahminical qualification simply by their birthright in the family of a Brahmin,—claim that the study of the Vedas is a monopoly business of such Brahmin caste only. Another section of the people take it as injustice to other castes who do not happen to take birth in a Brahmin family. But both of them are misguided. The Vedas is a subject matter which required to be explained even to Brahmaji by the Supreme Lord. Therefore the subject matter is understood by persons with exceptional qualities of goodness. Persons who are in the modes of passion and ignorance are unable to understand the subject matter of the Vedas. The ultimate goal of Vedic knowledge is Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead. The Personality is very rarely understood by them who are in the modes of passion and ignorance. In the Satya Yuga everyone was situated in the mode of goodness. Gradually the mode of goodness declined during the treta and Dwapara Yugas and the general mass of people deteriorated from such qualities of goodness. In the present age the modes of goodness is almost nil and so for the general mass of people the kind hearted powerful sage Srila Vyasa Deva divided the Vedas in various ways so that it may be practically followed by less intelligent persons in the modes of passion and ignorance. It is explained in the next sloka as follows.