Does the well-river example of Gita 2.46 illustrate transcending the Vedas recommended in Gita 2.45?
Hare Krishna. Question is 2.46, example of wells and flowing water. An illustration of traigunya vishaya vedanis traigunyabhavarjuna Answer Yes, but not exactly.
The, what it says, the traigunya vishaya vedanis traigunyabhavarjuna essentially says that, that one should go beyond the moors. Because, the moors, one should go beyond the Vedas. Because, the Vedas give fruits within the moors.
Now, 2.46 says yavan artha udapane sarvataha sampluto dake So, whatever purpose is served, artha, is purpose is served by udapane, a reservoir of water, that is a small reservoir, a well, a well, for example. sarvataha sampluto dake sarvataha means everywhere, sampluto dake, everywhere water is flowing. That means, it refers to a fast flowing, vast body of water.
So, whatever purpose is served by a small body of water, all those purposes are served by a large body of water. And, tavan sarveshu vedeshu, similarly, all the purposes of the Vedas are served by brahmanasyam janataha brahmanasyam here refers to one who knows Brahman. So, all the purposes of Vedas are served to one who knows the Brahman.
That means, that this verse is stating not just that one should go beyond the Vedas, yes, one should, but that whatever is achieved by the Vedas will be got, not by sticking to the Vedas, but by going beyond the Vedas. The same thing is talked about in 8th chapter conclusion, vedeshu yagyeshu tapasuchayiva daneshu yat punyaphalam pratishtham atyeti tat sarvam idam viditva yogi paramsthanam upaiti chaadhyam Whatever fruits are there from the study of the Vedas, from the giving of punya, from the giving of dana, all that and more, atyeti, one will get paramsthanam upaiti chaadhyam, one will get the supreme destination. So, one verse, 2.44 says that don't stuck in the Vedas, go beyond the Vedas.
And then, the question may come, if I go beyond the Vedas, will I lose out what the Vedas are offering? No. If you are going beyond the Vedas, you will get that and you will get more also. So, tavan sarveshu vedeshu All the purpose of the Vedas will be served by one who knows the ultimate purpose, the brahmana who knows brahman and who knows what is the ultimate goal of the Vedas.
So, rather than that being an illustration of this, there is an illustration, no doubt, but that illustration also says that if we transcend, we don't lose out. We get that and we get more. Just like Prabhupada would give the example that if you get a big amount of money, if someone gets 1 lakh rupees, then 5 rupees, 10 rupees, 50 rupees, 100 rupees, 500 rupees, they are all included in the 1 lakh rupees.
Similarly, one who gets the, one who comes to know about the ultimate purpose of life, the ultimate absolute truth, and that person gets all the other results which come from the Vedas also.