Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter2

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46.yaavaan arTha udhpaane sarvathaH sampluthodhake

thaavaan sarveshu vedhaeshu braahmaNasya vijaanathaH

 

The Vedas are of as much use to a brahmana who has the knowledge of reality as the water in a reservoir when all the sides are flooded with water.

 

To one who has the brahmajnana, there is nothing to be gained by any action either spiritual or secular as he has no desires to be fulfilled. Hence the Vedas are not of any use for him as there is no happiness to be gained by the fruits of actions prescribed by the Vedas either in this world or the next. He is filled with the bliss absolute and all the other joys are like baubles when compared with that. Hence Krishna compares the Vedas, meaning the fruits accruing from them to the water in a small reservoir like a well or pond when the whole are was flooded with water.

 

This can be construed in two ways .To an enlightened one the karmakanda of the veda which is the ritualistic portion that secures enjoyment in this world is like water in the well when the whole area is flooded. But if we take veda to mean the entire scripture including wisdom of Upanishads it may be interpreted thus: Even when the entire land is flooded the well can contain only as much water as it can hold .So too one can comprehend only as much as his intellect can grasp, which fact has been proved by the controversies in interpreting the upnishadic passages without comprehending their real purport which is Brahman. This may very well be the meaning of the term vedavaadharathaah.

 

yaavaan arTha- how much benefit as.

 

udhapaana- small reservoir

 

sarvathaH – on all sides

 

sampluthodhake- filled with water

 

thaavaan sarveshu vedheshu- only that much use in all he Vedas

 

braahmaNasya vijaanathaH- to a learned Brahmin who has not only mastered the Vedas but also comprehended their real purport. Here the word brahmanais meant to indicate ion who has the knowledge of Brahman and not by birth. BrahmaNaH ayam braahmaNah

 

It is like this. When a child learns artithmetic he is taught to count with his fingers or by the counting beads. . But later he has no more use for this. This however as already mentioned should not be taken as a dismissal of all the injunctions of the Vedas but it means that even though the wise may continue to do the acts prescribed by the Vedas they are not result -oriented but done as an offering to the Lord.