Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 5 Chapter 15 Verse 1

Canto 5: The Creative Impetus | Chapter 15: The Glories of the Descendants of King Priyavrata

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.15.1

śrī-śuka uvāca

bharatasyātmajaḥ sumatir nāmābhihito yam u ha vāva kecit pākhaṇḍina ṛṣabha-padavīm anuvartamānaḿ cānāryā aveda-samāmnātāḿ devatāḿ sva-manīṣayā pāpīyasyā kalau kalpayiṣyanti

SYNONYMS

śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued to speak; bharatasya — of Bharata Mahārāja; ātma-jaḥ — the son; sumatiḥ nāma-abhihitaḥ — named Sumati; yam — unto whom; u ha vāva — indeed; kecit — some; pākhaṇḍinaḥ — atheists, men without Vedic knowledge; ṛṣabha-padavīm — the path of King Ṛṣabhadeva; anuvartamānam — following; ca — and; anāryāḥ — not belonging to the Āryans who strictly follow the Vedic principles; aveda-samāmnātām — not enumerated in the Vedas; devatām — to be Lord Buddha or a similar Buddhist deity; sva-manīṣayā — by their own mental speculation; pāpīyasyā — most sinful; kalau — in this age of Kali; kalpayiṣyanti — will imagine.

TRANSLATION

Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: The son of Mahārāja Bharata known as Sumati followed the path of Ṛṣabhadeva, but some unscrupulous people imagined him to be Lord Buddha himself. These people, who were actually atheistic and of bad character, took up the Vedic principles in an imaginary, infamous way to support their activities. Thus these sinful people accepted Sumati as Lord Buddhadeva and propagated the theory that everyone should follow the principles of Sumati. In this way they were carried away by mental concoction.

PURPORT

Those who are Āryans strictly follow the Vedic principles, but in this age of Kali a community has sprung up known as the ārya-samāja, which is ignorant of the import of the Vedas in the paramparā system. Their leaders decry all bona fide ācāryas, and they pose themselves as the real followers of the Vedic principles. These ācāryas who do not follow the Vedic principles are presently known as the ārya-samājas, or the Jains. Not only do they not follow the Vedic principles, but they have no relationship with Lord Buddha. Imitating the behavior of Sumati, they claim to be the descendants of Ṛṣabhadeva. Those who are Vaiṣṇavas carefully avoid their company because they are ignorant of the path of the Vedas. In Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) Kṛṣṇa says, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: "The real purpose of the Vedas is to understand Me." This is the injunction of all Vedic literatures. One who does not know the greatness of Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot be accepted as an Āryan. Lord Buddha, an incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, adopted a particular means to propagate the philosophy of bhāgavata-dharma. He preached almost exclusively among atheists. Atheists do not want any God, and Lord Buddha therefore said that there is no God, but he adopted the means to instruct his followers for their benefit. Therefore he preached in a duplicitous way, saying that there is no God. Nonetheless, he himself was an incarnation of God.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness