Shloka 15
Adhyāya 189: Japa—Inquiry into the Jāpaka, Method
Vidhi), and Fruit (Phala
इत्येते चतुरो वर्णा येषां ब्राह्मी सरस्वती | विहिता ब्रह्मुणा पूर्व लोभात् _त्वज्ञानतां गता:
ity ete caturo varṇā yeṣāṃ brāhmī sarasvatī | vihitā brahmuṇā pūrvaṃ lobhāt tv ajñānatāṃ gatāḥ ||
Dijo Bharadvāja: «Así llegaron a existir estos cuatro varṇas, para los cuales Brahmā había dispuesto antaño la Sarasvatī nacida de Brahmā: la palabra védica. Pero, por la fuerza de la codicia, cayeron en la ignorancia y se volvieron indignos del estudio del Veda».
भरद्वाज उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links access to sacred knowledge with ethical disposition: greed (lobha) is portrayed as a cause of falling into ignorance (ajñāna), implying that moral failings obstruct spiritual and intellectual eligibility for Vedic learning.
Bharadvāja is explaining a doctrinal account of the four varṇas and the prior establishment of ‘brāhmī sarasvatī’—Vedic speech—by Brahmā, then noting a decline into ignorance due to greed, framed as a loss of qualification for Vedic study.