Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 3
Bhakti as the Supreme Process; Detachment and the Rudiments of Meditation
श्रीभगवानुवाच कालेन नष्टा प्रलये वाणीयं वेदसंज्ञिता । मयादौ ब्रह्मणे प्रोक्ता धर्मो यस्यां मदात्मक: ॥ ३ ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca kālena naṣṭā pralaye vāṇīyaṁ veda-saṁjñitā mayādau brahmaṇe proktā dharmo yasyāṁ mad-ātmakaḥ
Die Höchste Persönlichkeit Gottes sprach: Zur Zeit der Auflösung ging durch die Wirkung der Zeit der transzendentale Klang, der als Veda bekannt ist, verloren. Darum lehrte Ich zu Beginn der folgenden Schöpfung Brahmā das vedische Wissen, denn die in den Veden verkündeten Grundsätze des Dharma bin Ich selbst.
Lord Kṛṣṇa explains to Uddhava that although many processes and concepts of spiritual realization are described in the Vedas, the Vedas ultimately recommend devotional service to the Supreme Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all pleasure, and His devotees directly enter into the Lord’s hlādinī, or pleasure-giving, potency. Somehow or other one must fix one’s mind in Lord Kṛṣṇa, and that is not possible without devotional service. One who has not developed his attraction to Lord Kṛṣṇa cannot restrain the senses from inferior engagements. Since other Vedic processes do not actually award Lord Kṛṣṇa to the practitioner, they cannot offer the highest benefit in life. The transcendental sound of the Vedas is itself the highest evidence, but one whose senses and mind are entangled in sense gratification and mental speculation, and whose heart is therefore covered by material dust, cannot directly receive the transcendental Vedic message. Thus one cannot appreciate the exalted position of devotional service to the Lord.
FAQs
This verse states that the Veda is divine speech that can be lost at cosmic dissolution, and that the Lord originally taught it to Brahmā at the beginning of creation.
Because true dharma is not merely ritual or social duty; its inner purpose is realization of and devotion to the Supreme Lord, who is the very core of Vedic teaching.
Study and practice dharma in a way that leads to God-centered living—aligning ethics, worship, and daily duties with remembrance of the Lord rather than treating spirituality as a separate compartment.