Krishna Ridiculed Some Vedic Priests

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Arjuna heard from Vedic priests and teachers about various social methods which in this application Krishna disagreed with. Arjuna wanted to take a peace course out of the Kuru Civil conflict but Krishna wanted confrontation, ultimatum and war. Krishna explained that those priests were actually ignorant reciters who enjoyed the poesy of the Vedic Sanskrit verse which were written in musical meters. The priests also stuck to their guns by stating that there was no other written authority besides the Vedas.

Even today there are some sects in India, for instance the Arya Samaj which accept only the Vedas and reject the Puranas and other subsidiary texts.

It is popular story that Arjuna was the calf, Krishna was the milkman and the Vedas were the cow and that Krishna milked the Vedas to give Arjuna the Bhagavad Gita. Obviously then, this milkman carefully kneaded the udders of that cow so that it did not extrude whatever he considered to be bad for the calf.

Krishna went further in his critique by attacking the Vedic priests, the brahmin caste, who were the trustees of the technical Sanskrit recitation and complex ritual procedure of the Vedas. This is what Krishna said about them:

कामात्मानः स्वर्गपरा

जन्मकर्मफलप्रदाम् ।

क्रियाविशेषबहुलां

भोगैश्वर्यगतिं प्रति ॥२.४३॥

kāmātmānaḥ svargaparā

janmakarmaphalapradām

kriyāviśeṣabahulāṁ

bhogaiśvaryagatiṁ prati (2.43)

kāmātmānaḥ — people of a sensuous nature; svargaparā — people intent on going to the swarga (angelic) world; janmakarmaphalapradām = janma — rebirth + karma — cultural act + phala — pay-off + pradām — offering; kriyāviśeṣabahulāṁ = kriyā — ceremonial rites + viśeṣa — specific + bahulām — various; bhogaiśvaryagatiṁ = bhoga — enjoyment + aiśvarya — political power + gatiṁ — aim; prati — toward

Those reciters, being people of a sensuous nature, being intent on going to the Svarga angelic world, offering such rebirth as payoff for cultural activities, make themselves busy in various specific ceremonial rites, and focus on enjoyment and political power. (Bhagavad Gita 2.43)

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This is a scathing critique of some Vedic priests in the time of Arjuna. But even Balarama, Krishna’s elder brother was not too pleased with the Vedic priests. Once when one failed to rise to respect him, Balarama took a straw, said some incantations, touch the priest, killing him instantly. That priest was Romaharshan. Due to his death, his son Suta whom Balarama agreed could replace him, became famous as a reciter.

First of all Krishna said that these priests and ritual mantra reciters were people of a sensuous nature.

Is that true today?

He said their intention was to go to the Swarga angelic paradise world after death, and that they sold the promise of going there to their patrons. Their proposal was that if the patron did the ceremony under their supervision, then the patron would go to heaven hereafter. Their main focus he said was enjoyment and political power. Those brahmins supported the warrior caste families, because they as brahmins wanted to share in the political control which the warrior caste monopolized.

Krishna condemned them further indicating that their meditation was bogus, because their interest ran contrary to the method for which one would have the self-focusing intellect which is required for meditation practice. And if they did not meditate in fact, then they could not contact the supernatural rulers (devas) like Indra who is the lord of the Swarga paradise world. Thus their guarantees about transiting people there after death was a rip-off.

भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां

तयापहृतचेतसाम् ।

व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिः

समाधौ न विधीयते ॥२.४४॥

bhogaiśvaryaprasaktānāṁ

tayāpahṛtacetasām

vyavasāyātmikā buddhiḥ

samādhau na vidhīyate (2.44)

bhogaiśvaryaprasaktānāṁ = bhoga — pleasure + aiśvarya — power + prasaktānāṁ — of the attached, of the prone; tayāpahṛtacetasām = tayā — by this + apahṛta — captivated + cetasām — idea; vyavasāyātmikā = vyavasāya — focused determination + ātmikā — self; buddhiḥ — intellect; samādhau — in meditation; na — not; vidhīyate — is experience

Being absorbed by this way of life, pleasure-prone and power-seeking people, are captivated by this idea. Thus in meditation, the self-focused intellect is not experienced by them. (Bhagavad Gita 2.44)

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Krishna then advised Arjuna to strip away his confidence in the Vedas in so far as Arjuna accepted it as explained and stressed by those priests. This is how Krishna phrased that:

त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा

निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन ।

निर्द्वंद्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो

निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् ॥२.४५॥

traiguṇyaviṣayā vedā

nistraiguṇyo bhavārjuna

nirdvaṁdvo nityasattvastho

niryogakṣema ātmavān (2.45)

traiguṇya — three mood; viṣayā — phases; vedā — Vedas; nistraiguṇyo = nistraiguṇyaḥ — without the three moody phases; bhavārjuna = bhava — be + arjuna — Arjuna; nirdvandvo = nirdvandvaḥ — without fluctuation; nityasattvastho = nityasattvasthaḥ = nitya — always + sattva — reality + sthaḥ — fixed; niryogakṣema — without grasping and possessiveness; ātmavān — soul-situated

Three moody phases are offered by the Vedas. Be without the three moods, O Arjuna. Be without the moody fluctuations. Be always anchored to reality. Be free from grasping and possessiveness. (Bhagavad Gita 2.45)

The getting of rewards which is Veda based, a way of asking gods for favors, was condemned by Krishna, which means that most of the Vedas were condemned by him, particularly the introductory portions. This is a wonder!

Arjuna was to stop grasping and possessing. In other words he was to rigidly control his sensual interest. The whole idea behind basic religion is to as God or the gods for consumer items which include land, good weather, animals and servants even.

Isn’t it all about my house, my spouse, my property, my automobile, my credit card, my job, my money, my relatives, my children, my whatever?

How would my spouse live aristocratically without us hiring servants to clean our palatial residence?

Should not my children get the highest education, so tht they do not have to struggle for a living and be at the bottom of the social totem pole?

Should I not ask God or the gods to bless me with opulence and easy living?

Should I not desire heaven hereafter?

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Krishna in the next verse, levels the axe with which he cut down the infallible reputation of the Vedas. Read carefully. Consider the Sanskrit terms of sarveṣu vedeṣu:

यावानर्थ उदपाने

सर्वतः संप्लुतोदके ।

तावान्सर्वेषु वेदेषु

ब्राह्मणस्य विजानतः ॥२.४६॥

yāvānartha udapāne

sarvataḥ saṁplutodake

tāvānsarveṣu vedeṣu

brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ (2.46)

yāvān — as much; artha — importance; udapāne — in a well; sarvataḥ — in all directions; saṁplutodake = saṁpluta — flowing + udake — in water; tāvān — so much; sarveṣu — in the entire; vedeṣu — in the Vedas; brāhmaṇasya — of a brahmin; vijānataḥ — perceptive

For as much importance as there is in a well when suitable water flows in all directions, so much worth is in the entire Vedas for a perceptive brahmin. (Bhagavad Gita 2.46)

I do not know how anyone can say that they accept Krishna as Krishna presented himself in the Bhagavad Gita and then simultaneously say that they accept the Vedas fully?

Of course many of us have bipolar minds!