तदेतत् सत्यं मन्त्रेषु कर्माणि कवयो
यान्यपश्यंस्तानि त्रेतायां बहुधा सन्ततानि ।
तान्याचरथ नियतं सत्यकामा एष वः
पन्थाः सुकृतस्य लोके ॥ १॥
tadetat satyaṃ mantreṣu karmāṇi kavayo
yānyapaśyaṃstāni tretāyāṃ bahudhā santatāni .
tānyācaratha niyataṃ satyakāmā eṣa vaḥ
panthāḥ sukṛtasya loke .. 1..
This is the Truth: The sacrificial works which were revealed to the rishis in the hymns have been described in many ways in the three Vedas. Practice them, being desirous to attain their true results. This is your path leading to the fruits of your works.
Commentary:
This is a different subject altogether. A mantra in the earlier verses told us that there are two types of knowledge, the lower and the higher. Rg-vedo yajur-vedaḥ sāma-vedo’tharva-vedaḥ śikṣā kalpo vyākaraṇaṁ (1.1.5): The Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda are all lower knowledge. Higher knowledge is that great spiritual insight by which we come into direct contact with the Imperishable. This was told to us in earlier verses. Now some details are given as to what lower knowledge is.
The mantras of the Veda are utilised in the performance of sacrifices, or yajnas. This is the secondary character of the Veda mantras. Veda mantras can be used as prayers to the Almighty God or as prayers to the divinities inhabiting heaven. That is one form of the utilisation of the mantras. But the major aspect of the mantras is their utility in the performance of yajnas.
This is true: tad etat satyam. Whatever suggestion for the performance of action as sacrifice, or yajna, was visualised by the great sages in the mantras of the Veda, that vision has to be considered as true. That is to say, the Vedic sacrifices are not just concoctions of the mind or someone’s whim and fancy. There is a truth in it. The rituals that we perform in our religious worships are not unnecessary things, as some modern intellectuals may sometimes tell us. The entire body and mind gesticulates. It is not merely the body; even the mind puts on a gesture, an attitude, when a ritual is performed. This point is missed by critics. When the mind and the body are in a state of unison in the performance of a ritual, the prayer assumes a physical shape. The mantras are prayers. The Vedic mantras are hymns offered to God, and the implementation, or actual practice of this prayer, is the ritual thereof. The ritual can be worship as we do in temples, for instance, or it can be an actual homa or yajna, sacrifice. These suggestions of actual action proceeding from the mantras in the form of ritual are true. It is not untrue, says the mantra: tad etat satyam.
Mantreṣu karmāṇi kavayo yāny apaśyaṁs tāni tretāyāṁ bahudhā santatāni. Treta means the three Vedas. In the three Vedas—Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda—we will find every mantra is a potential for action. The Mimamsa Shastra is very vigorous in the affirmation of mantras being just instruments in the performance of external sacrifice. Knowledge is the medium for action. After we know something, we do something. We do not merely know something and keep quiet. So shodhana, or incentive for action, is the potential of every mantra. This is the Mimamsa Shastra, and we are mentioning it in this particular verse. Therefore, the three Vedas are incentives for the performance of further action in the form of ritual and yajna. Treta means three Vedas, and it also means the Treta Yuga. There are four yugas: Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. We are in Kali Yuga, the last of the yugas.
Eka eva purā vedaḥ praṇavaḥ sarva-vāṅgmāyaḥ (S.B. 9.14.48). In the Krita Yuga there was no Veda, no yajna or sacrifice, no worship, no governmental system, no ruler, no necessity for law and order, etc. It is called the hamsa condition—pure Eternity living on Earth, the Golden Age, the millennium come, as some religions tell us. The Treta Yuga was a descent in the moral order of creation; and then yajnas started, and also the Vedas. Otherwise Om, or Pranava, alone was the Veda. The three Vedas were not there. Hence, we can take this word ‘treta‘ to mean both things: either the commencement of yajnas in the Treta Yuga, or it may mean the three Vedas being the incentive for the performance of yajnas.
Tāny ācaratha: Please do it. The Mimamsa tells us: Please do this. Niyatam: Regularly perform these yajnas. Satyakāmāḥ: If you want the fruit of your good deeds in the form of heavenly experiences, if you want Indra’s glory and to rejoice in heaven, here it is. Come, perform yajnas by the recitation of mantras of the three Vedas.
Eṣa vaḥ panthāḥ sukṛtasya loke: This is the blessedness for you. Here the Mimamsa speaks to you: It is the path of blessedness open to you. All people come. If you recite the Veda mantras properly, perform yajna and offer oblations to the gods, the flames of the sacrifice uniting themselves with the rays of the Sun will take you, by your subtle body, to the glorious realm of Indra’s heaven. So here is an invitation to the heaven of Indra.