Verse 2.1.195

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.1.195:

সে-ই শাস্ত্র সত্য—কৃষ্ণ-ভক্তি কহে যায অন্যথা হৈলে শাস্ত্র পাষণ্ডত্ব পায ॥ ১৯৫ ॥

से-इ शास्त्र सत्य—कृष्ण-भक्ति कहे याय अन्यथा हैले शास्त्र पाषण्डत्व पाय ॥ १९५ ॥

se-i śāstra satya—kṛṣṇa-bhakti kahe yāya anyathā haile śāstra pāṣaṇḍatva pāya || 195 ||

se-i sastra satya—krsna-bhakti kahe yaya anyatha haile sastra pasandatva paya (195)

English translation:

(195) “The literatures that glorify devotional service to Kṛṣṇa are true scriptures, others are simply atheistic.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

Those spiritual scriptures that dissipate the darkness of ignorance and glorify the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa are true and establish supreme religious principles. If any literature does not glorify topics related to Kṛṣṇa’s names, forms, qualities, associates, and pastimes; does not describe the topmost glories and eternal position of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees; and does not describe devotional service to Kṛṣṇa as the topmost process for attaining the goal of life; then, instead of calling it a scripture, it should be known as the useless babbling of atheists. One should never study such scriptures, understanding them as bad association.

In his commentary, Śrī Madhvācārya quotes the following verses from the Skanda Purāṇa:

ṛg-yajuḥ-sāmātharvāś ca bhārataṃ pañcarātrakam mūla-rāmāyaṇaṃ caiva śāstram ity abhidhīyate

yac cānukūlam etasya tac ca śāstraṃ prakīrtitam ato’nya grantha vistaro naiva śāstraṃ kuvatma tat

“The Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, and Atharva Vedas, as well as the Mahābhārata, the Nārada-pañcarātra, and the Rāmāyaṇa, are certainly known as śāstra. Those books that favorably follow in the footsteps of these authorized scriptures are also counted among the śāstras. All other literatures simply lead one down the wrong path and can never be known as scriptures.”

The following verses from the Matsya Purāṇa are quoted in the Tattva- sandarbha:

sāttvikeṣu ca kalpeṣu māhātmyam adhikaṃ h areḥrājaseṣu ca māhātmyam adhikaṃ brahmaṇo viduḥ

tad-vad agneś ca māhātmyaṃ tāmaseṣūśivasya ca saṅkīrṇeṣu sarasvatyāḥ pitṛṇāṃś ca nigadyate

“The Purāṇas in the mode of goodness glorify the Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa; those in the mode of passion promote the glories of Lord Brahmā, the creator of the universe; and those in the mode of ignorance celebrate the greatness of Agni, Śiva, and Durgā. In addition many other scriptures consisting of various mixtures of goodness, passion, and ignorance glorify the ancestors, the demigods, and demigoddesses like Sarasvatī.” Many ignorant asslike people who desire neither their own nor other’s welfare think that since literatures glorifying Kṛṣṇa, the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, and the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa are critical of materially motivated persons attached to sense gratification, such literatures are therefore ever-conflicting and sectarian like their own literatures. But on the pretext of describing the glories of Kṛṣṇa, the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, and the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa to His own mother, Śrī Gaurasundara explained the supreme truth in order to deliver foolish, sensual- knowledge-dependent persons from their defective imaginations.

Narrations of the glories of Kṛṣṇa, the devotees of Kṛṣṇa, and the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa by spiritual literatures that dissipate the darkness of ignorance are not sectarian, ever-conflicting interpretations; rather, they are the only supreme auspicious conclusions for all living entities who desire the topmost good fortune. Those hellish narrow- minded people who are attached to material conceptions think that even Kṛṣṇa, who is the source of Viṣṇu and the Lord of lords, is an equal rival to the demigods or the worshipable Lord of a bigoted sect. But if one gives up the bad association of studying jñāna-śāstras, which are based impersonal considerations, and karma-śāstras, which are full of interpretations, flowery language, and injunctions for worshiping many gods, and instead engages in the study of the Ekāyana-śāstras, which direct one to the devotional service of Kṛṣṇa, then he will certainly receive the opportunity to achieve the ultimate perfection of life.