CC daily 127 – M 6.179 – Understand scripture not by coming up with an original interpretation, but by coming to the original intention

How Chaitanya Mahaprabhu brings that about, we’ll see in our future sessions. Thank you.
आर ये ये किछु कहे सकल इकलपना स्वतः प्रमान वेदवाके कलपेन लक्षणा आर ये ये किछु कहे आर means apart from this, other than this. ये ये किछु कहे, whatever other things people may say. सकल इकलपना, it’s all an imagination.
स्वतः प्रमान वेदवाके कलपेन लक्षणा स्वतः प्रमान The self-evident nature of the Vedas is lost when one gives a speculative explanation. Often people think of scripture as an arena for the exercise of the creative faculty to come up with an original unheard, unthought interpretation. Just like sometimes some people may look at a work of art and they may say that this work means this or this particular pattern, this particular color, this particular design signifies this and like that, different people may come up with different ideas of what the work of art means.
Now, there can be creative license in coming up with this kind of interpretations. At the same time, it is important to remember that while work of art may be open to a creative interpretation that sort of creativity might well backfire if used in something which is meant to be like an instruction manual. For example, suppose a person sees a road sign and tries to do a creative reinterpretation of what the road sign means.
Now, a person thinks that a speed breaker symbol means that actually I should move fast. The person thinks that a speed breaker instead of being a symbol to indicate to us that we should slow down is a symbol indicating that we can move fast, that the upper speed limit has been raised much more on this road. Then, that person will be in for a big jolt, it’s not an accident due to running high speed over a speed breaker.
Similarly, we too will get into a lot of trouble if we come up with creative interpretations that militate against the essential message of scripture. Certainly, we are meant to use our intelligence and some people think that a disapproval of creative interpretation is a sentence against their intelligence. Not necessarily.
We still have the opportunity to use our intelligence to understand what a particular sign means and then we have the opportunity to use our intelligence to drive our vehicle intelligently as per what the sign has directed. Similarly, understanding the importance of scripture, understanding its intended meaning as it was intended by its original composer which ultimately is Krishna. Understanding such things is important.
Still beyond it all, what is more important is to recognize that we are at our core souls and as souls we need to get guidance about how to attain spiritual consciousness and therein find lasting happiness. If we don’t do that essential activity then we will end up with a lot of information but with also a lot of confusion about what the ultimate goal of life is and how it is to be pursued. So yes, scripture has portions which are poetic, which are works of art and which can be interpreted creatively but overall scripture is giving us a message which is very meaningful and purposeful.
It is not just subjective and prone to flights of poetic fancy and mutable according to flights of poetic fancy. So the self-evident nature of scripture can be understood when we live according to scripture and we experience within our own consciousness the purification that results by living in harmony with scripture. So when we mould our life according to this understanding that scripture is a manual and first and foremost it gives us a specific direction पस्मात् शास्त्रं प्रवाणं ते कार्या कारें वस्तितों जात्वा शास्त्र विधानो तम् कर्म करतु निहानसी that therefore understanding scripture in junction शास्त्रं प्रवाणं ते कार्या कारें वस्तितों that what is the right action and what is the wrong action कार्या कारें वस्तितों understand it properly जात्वा शास्त्र विधानो तम् and understanding thus the message of scripture then act properly on Krishna वो अवरिजिना क्रिष्णा चली so originality in understanding scripture is not is not mean coming up with a original insight in the sense of in the sense of thinking of something which no one else has thought of but means of it’s coming not coming up with a new insight but coming up or rather coming to the intended insight so just as the road driver’s safety depends not on coming up with a new interpretation of the road sign but of coming to the old understanding of the road sign similarly understanding scripture requires understanding its intended import and not coming up with some as it is said Kalpita imagined interpretation so Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is indirectly stating here that the devotional understanding is the original of the intended understanding of scripture and the impersonalist interpretation is speculative and misleading

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I welcome you all to Madhya Leela Chapter 6, the Liberation of Sarvambhattacharya. Text 179 आर्येये किछु कहे सकल इकल्पना स्वतःप्रमान वेदवाक्ये कल्पेन लक्षणा आर्येये किछु कहे आर् means apart from this, other than this आर्येये किछु कहे, whatever other things people may say सकल इकल्पना, it's all an imagination स्वतःप्रमान वेदवाक्ये कल्पेन लक्षणा स्वतःप्रमान, the self-evident nature of the Vedas is lost when one cues a speculative explanation Often, people think of scripture as an arena for the exercise of the creative faculty to come up with an original, neither unheard, unthought interpretation Just like sometimes, some people may look at a work of art and they may say that this work means this or this particular pattern, this particular color, this particular design signifies this and like that, different people may come up with different ideas of what the work of art means Now, there can be creative license in coming up with this kind of interpretations At the same time, it is important to remember that while work of art may be open to a creative interpretation that sort of creativity might well backfire if used in something which is meant to be like an instruction manual Suppose, a person sees a road sign and tries to do a creative reinterpretation of what the road sign means Now, the person thinks that a speed breaker symbol means that actually I should move fast The person thinks that a speed breaker instead of being a symbol to indicate to us that we should slow down is a symbol indicating that we can move fast that the upper speed limit has been raised much more on this road Then, that person will be in for a big jolt It's not an accident due to running high speed over a speed breaker Similarly, we too will get into a lot of trouble if we come up with creative interpretations that militate against the essential message of scripture So, certainly, we are meant to use our intelligence and some people think that a disapproval of creative interpretation is a sentence against the intelligence Not necessarily We still have the opportunity to use our intelligence to understand what a particular sign means and then we have the opportunity to use our intelligence to drive our vehicle intelligently as per what the sign is directed Similarly, understanding the import of scripture understanding its intended meaning as it was intended by its original composer which ultimately is Krishna Understanding such things is important Still beyond it all, what is more important is to recognize that we are at our core souls and as souls, we need to get guidance about how to attain spiritual consciousness and therein find lasting happiness If we don't do that essential activity then we will end up with a lot of information but with also a lot of confusion about what the ultimate goal of life is and how it is to be pursued So, yes, scripture has portions which are poetic which are works of art which can be interpreted creatively but overall scripture is giving us a message which is very meaningful and purposeful it is not just subjective and prone to flights of poetic fancy and mutable according to flights of poetic fancy So, the self-evident nature of scripture can be understood when we live according to scripture and we experience within our own consciousness the purification that results by living in harmony with scripture So, when we mould our life according to this understanding that scripture is a manual and first and foremost it views us in a specific direction thus, शास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्या कारे वस्तितों जात्वा शास्त्र विधानु तम कर्म करतु निहारसी that therefore, understanding scripture in junction शास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्या कारे वस्तितों that what is the right action, what is the wrong action कार्या कारे वस्तितों understand it properly जात्वा शास्त्र विधानु तम कर्म करतु निहारसी understanding thus, the message of scripture then act properly, O Krishna O Arjuna, Krishna is telling So, Originality in understanding scripture is not is not mean coming up with a original insight in the sense of in the sense of thinking of something which no one else has thought of but it means of it's coming, not coming up with a new insight but coming up or rather coming to the intended insight so just as the road driver's safety depends not on coming up with a new interpretation of the road sign but of coming to the old understanding of the road sign similarly understanding scripture requires understanding it's intent to import and not coming up with some as it is said kalpita, imagined interpretation so Chitra Mahaprabhu is indirectly stating here that the devotional understanding is the original authentic intended understanding of scripture and the impersonalist interpretation is speculative and misleading Thank you.