TEXT 15
narayana-para veda
deva narayanangajah
narayana-para loka
narayana-para makhah
SYNONYMS
narayanathe Supreme Lord; parahis the cause and is meant for; vedahknowledge; devahthe demigods; narayanathe Supreme Lord; anga-jahassisting hands; narayanathe Personality of Godhead; parahfor the sake of; lokahthe planets; narayanathe Supreme Lord; parahjust to please Him; makhahall sacrifices.
TRANSLATION
The Vedic literatures are made by and are meant for the Supreme Lord, the demigods are also meant for serving the Lord as parts of His body, the different planets are also meant for the sake of the Lord, and different sacrifices are performed just to please Him.
PURPORT
According to the Vedanta-sutras (sastra-yonitvat), the Supreme Lord is the author of all revealed scriptures, and all revealed scriptures are for knowing the Supreme Lord. Veda means knowledge that leads to the Lord. The Vedas are made just to revive the forgotten consciousness of the conditioned souls, and any literature not meant for reviving God consciousness is rejected at once by the narayana-para devotees. Such deluding books of knowledge, not having Narayana as their aim, are not at all knowledge, but are the playgrounds for crows who are interested in the rejected refuse of the world. Any book of knowledge (science or art) must lead to the knowledge of Narayana; otherwise it must be rejected. That is the way of advancement of knowledge. The supreme worshipable Deity is Narayana. The demigods are recommended secondarily for worship in relation to Narayana because the demigods are assisting hands in the management of the universal affairs. As the officers of a kingdom are respected due to their relation to the king, the demigods are worshiped due to their relation to the Lord. Without the Lord's relation, worship of the demigods is unauthorized (avidhi-purvakam), just as it is improper to water the leaves and branches of a tree without watering its root. Therefore the demigods are also dependent on Narayana. The lokas, or different planets, are attractive because they have different varieties of life and bliss partially representing the sac-cid-ananda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1]. Everyone wants the eternal life of bliss and knowledge. In the material world such an eternal life of bliss and knowledge is progressively realized in the upper planets, but after reaching there one is inclined to achieve further progress along the path back to Godhead. Duration of life, with a proportionate quantity of bliss and knowledge, may be increased from one planet to another. One can increase the duration of life to thousands and hundreds of thousands of years in different planets, but nowhere is there eternal life. But one who can reach the highest planet, that of Brahma, can aspire to reach the planets in the spiritual sky, where life is eternal. Therefore, the progressive journey from one planet to another culminates in reaching the supreme planet of the Lord (mad-dhama), where life is eternal and full of bliss and knowledge. All different kinds of sacrifice are performed just to satisfy Lord Narayana with a view to reach Him, and the best sacrifice recommended in this age of Kali is sankirtana-yajna, the mainstay of the devotional service of a narayana-para devotee.
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