Veda means knowledge. Don't accept that Vedas is a sectarian religious scripture. No. Vedas means knowledge. That is the real import of the word Veda. Vetti veda vida jñāne. There are two forms of verb: vetti, veda, and the original verbal root is vid, vid-dhātu. Vetti veda vida jñāne. Vinte vid vicāraṇe. The same vid-dhātu, verbal root, takes different forms. That is described here: vinte vid vicāraṇe. When one scrutinizingly analyze something, tries to understand, in that way the verb is vinte vid vicāraṇe. Vidyate vid satāyām, and when there is meaning of existence, the same root takes the form of vidyate, vidyate vid satāyām. lābhe vindati, vindate. Again the same vid-dhātuḥ can be used for profit: vindate, he's enjoying.
So original meaning is vid-dhātu veda or vid-dhātu the Veda comes. Veda means knowledge and what is that supreme knowledge? Knowledge, there are different departmental knowledge but what is the ultimate knowledge? The ultimate knowledge is to understand God. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3).
If you understand God then you understand everything. He is the origin automatically. So if you understand God then you become liberated also. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.9): janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ.
"Anyone who understands Me, how I appear, how I disappear, what are My functions, simply by understanding this." Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ. Everyone who understands it. So there is no question of sectarian view. Anyone who can understand what is God. It doesn't matter whether he is Hindu, whether he is Muslim, whether he is a Christian, anyone. Religion means to understand God. That is religion. And to understand the laws of God, that is religion. So anyone who understands God and the laws of God he's religionist, he's Vedāntist, that's all. Vetti veda vido jñāne vinte—vid vicāraṇe.
So Kṛṣṇa . . . Caitanya-Mahāprabhu says that veda-śāstra kahe—'sambandha'. The whole purport of Vedic knowledge is to understand what is our relationship with God—what is God. There are three things in the matter of understanding God. First of all you should know what is God and what I am, what is my relationship with God. Then just like in business you make agreement, both party agrees, that this is our relationship you are supplier I am consumer. You supply under such and such condition I'll consume. That is called relationship. And as soon as the agreement established, our relationship is understood, then actual business follows. Then actual business. When you understand God, when you understand yourself, then the actual business will start. Without this knowledge, whatever transaction, whatever activities we are engaged in, that is called māyā because it will not give you your desired result. It is simply wasting time. That is the verdict of the Vedas. Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13).
- dharma-svanuṣṭitaḥ puṁsāṁ
- viśvaksena kathāsu yaḥ
- notpādayed ratiṁ yadi
- śrama eva hi kevalam
- (SB 1.2.8)
- sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo
- yato bhaktir adhokṣaje
- ahaituky apratihatā
- yayātmā samprasīdati
- (SB 1.2.6)
These are the statements of the Vedic literature—that you go, go on working, everyone is working according to his capacities. That's all right, go on, there is no question of stopping your work but you must see whether you are gainer or looser by working that way. That—gainer or looser. If you don't make account that whether I am gaining or loosing then what is the. Such kinds of activities are done by monkeys also. They are very active but it is useless activities. Śrama eva hi kevalam. The Vedic śastra says that if you do not calculate whether you are loosing or gaining. If you simply blindly go on working, then such kind of activities is simply waste of time and energy. So we must know how to work. And that is stated in the Vedas. There are two kinds of instruction in the Vedas, pravṛtti-mārga and nivṛtti-mārga. Pravṛtti-mārga means sense enjoyment and nivṛtti-mārga means, I mean to, wind, winding up the business of sense enjoyment. Two kinds of knowledge. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalām (Manu-saṁhitā).