Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 17.186

tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnā

nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataḿ na bhinnam

dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guhāyāḿ

mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ

SYNONYMS

tarkaḥ — dry argument; apratiṣṭhaḥ — not fixed; śrutayaḥ — Vedas; vibhinnāḥ — possessing different departments; na — not; asau — that; ṛṣiḥ — great sage; yasya — whose; matam — opinion; na — not; bhinnam — separate; dharmasya — of religious principles; tattvam — truth; nihitam — placed; guhāyām — in the heart of a realized person; mahā-janaḥ — self-realized predecessors; yena — by which way; gataḥ — acted; saḥ — that; panthāḥ — the pure unadulterated path.

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, "'Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated, self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.'"

PURPORT

This is a verse spoken by Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja in the Mahābhārata, Vana-pārva (313.117).

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness