SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
te taṁ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṁ viśālaṁ
kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti
evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā
gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante
‘They, after enjoying that spacious world of Svarga, merit (puṇya)-exhausted, enter into the world of mortals. Thus do the addictors to the ways of the three (Vedas), —pursuers of desires,— obtain the transitory (states).'[2. Read Bra: Su: III-1-9 kṛitātyaye `nuśayavān &c. And Bhāg III-32-21: ‘Tatas te kshīṇa-sukṛitālh &c.’]
The Three Vidyas or Lower Spiritual Sciences are the three Vedas, Rik, Yajus and Sāma. The followers of these are called the Trai-vidyāḥ. They are mere followers of these, and not the devotees of the Ends of the Vedas, or the Vedāntas (= Upanaishads=Theosophy=Divine Wisdom =The Highest Spiritual Science). The latter, the followers of the Vedāntas are indeed the Mahātmas (High Souls). And it is they who, as beforementioned, know Myself, as the Object, taught by all the Vedas to be known, and by ‘chanting My hymns’ etc., (verse 14) and intellectually contemplating Me by the ‘Sacrifice of Knowledge’ etc., (verse 15,) —both stimulated by their intense love for Me— worship Myself as their sole Acme of ambition.
Whereas, those who are addicted to the three Vedas pray for Svarga as their chief end, by partaking of the Soma[3. The juice of the ‘Asclepias or Aesculapius’. But Aṇna Moreśvar Kunte in his work Ashtānga-hṛidaya says, it is ‘Sarcostema Viminalis’. (P:3).] after offering it to Indra and other ordinary divinities in Sacrifices, in the manner prescribed by those Vedas. The barriers of sin which obstruct the passage to Svarga are thus removed; and they adore Me as Indra etc., to whom the sacrifices relate, not knowing that behind the forms represented by Indra etc., it is I that am.
Rid of affliction, they enter the world of Indra —the Lord of the Suras— and there taste the exquisite delights of the celestials (devas).
Thus do they abandon themselves to the delectations provided in the vast regions of Svarga; but when the merit which secured them all this fruit, gets exhausted, they again enter the world of the mortals.
They thus forego the advantages of the ripe wisdom enshrined in the Trayyantas (=Vedāntas), but merely hunger after the material delights of Svarga etc., thus devoting themselves to the behests contained in the three Vedas, and only obtain states involving elevations and reversions (=gat-āgatam=transitory states): meaning that their enjoyments in Svarga etc., are of a trivial and transient nature, involving a turning back.[4. Read Bra: Sū: III-1-7.]
Whereas, the Mahātmas (God-wise Saints) give themselves up to ardent loving reflections of Myself, and achieve Myself, Who am the inexpressible measureless Bliss Itself, and never return. The other features distinguishing these Mahātmas are further dwelt on:—
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