Why Srila Prabhupada presented Bhagavad-gita As It Is

[Bhakti Vikasa Swami]

It has become fashionable since the time of Sankaracarya to explain everything
regarding the sastras in an indirect way. Scholars take pride in explaining
everything in their own way, and they declare that one can understand the Vedic
scriptures in any way he likes. This "any way you like" method is foolishness,
and it has created havoc in the Vedic culture. One cannot accept scientific
knowledge in his own whimsical way. In the science of mathematics, for example,
two plus two equals four, and one cannot make it equal three or five. Yet
although it is not possible to alter real knowledge, people have taken to the
fashion of understanding Vedic knowledge in any way they like. It is for this
reason that we have presented Bhagavad-gita As It Is. We do not create meanings
by concoction. Sometimes commentators say that the word kuruksetra in the first
verse of the Bhagavad-gita refers to one's body, but we do not accept this. We
understand that Kuruksetra is a place that still exists, and according to the
Vedic version it is a dharma-ksetra, or a place of pilgrimage. People still go
there to perform Vedic sacrifices. Foolish commentators, however, say that
kuruksetra means the body and that panca-pandava refers to the five senses. In
this way they distort the meaning, and people are misled. Here Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu confirms that all Vedic literatures, including the Upanisads,
Brahma-sutra and others, whether sruti, smrti or nyaya, must be understood
according to their original statements. To describe the direct meaning of the
Vedic literatures is glorious, but to describe them in one's own way, using
imperfect senses and imperfect knowledge, is a disastrous blunder. Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu fully deprecated the attempt to describe the Vedas in this way.
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From Srila Prabhupada's purport to Cc Adi 7.108