Q: Is śāstra infallible?
A: Yes.
Q: But we often find śāstra contradicting itself.
A: Any contradictions are because we have not understood śāstra properly.
Q: In the Gītā, Bhagavān teaches dharma and then says give up all dharma. In the Bhāgavatam, Vyāsa says to kick out kaitava dharma, which basically means he himself taught kaitava dharma earlier. Why teach the wrong thing and then say don’t follow it?
A: śāstra has different adhikāris. It speaks differently according to adhikāra. It does not teach the wrong thing. It teaches the right thing for the right people. But when it comes to teaching the highest, to the person who has the adhikāra for it, then it asks to abandon other teachings.
Q: Or maybe Vyāsa realized his mistake and rectified it. His guru Nārada also told him that.
A: Vyāsa is Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa Himself. He is not going to make mistakes. That is a līlā to allow the unfolding of the Bhāgavata and also to teach us the importance of its subject.
Q: Why should someone have the adhikāra to learn kaitava dharma? It sounds absurd.
A: It sounds absurd to you. It is not kaitava dharma for that person. It is kaitava for someone else. Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself says: sva-dharme nidhanam˙ śreyah para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ – Even death occurring in the discharge of one’s own duty is superior to the execution of another’s duty, since the latter path is perilous.
So there are different dharmas, and there are different adhikāris for it.
Q: In fact, kaitava dharma seems like an oxymoron. How can dharma be kaitava? Why would he say that? If there is supposed to be only one dharma, then why does he say that? So does that mean all śāstras other than the Bhāgavatam teach kaitava dharma?
A: The word kaitava is used to indicate selfishness. One who is selfish is allowed to attain their goals through the practice of dharma. But there are different types of dharma. There is a dharma grounded entirely in selflessness. Relative to that, other dharmas are kaitava. Other śāstras also teach parama puruṣārtha, but not openly or emphatically. Still, śāstra has one unitary message ultimately.
Q: It seems that the order in which Vyāsa wrote the books shows some sort of development, wherein he is correcting the mistakes he made in the previous ones and keeps refining the message.
A: śāstra is eternal. So the development, if there is one, is also eternal.
Q: Some modern ācāryas also believe this. That Vyāsa made mistakes and then corrected it as he went along.
A: One has to be careful here. Thinking like this is śāstra-nindā, which is an offense.
Q: How can I believe that there is nothing better than the Bhāgavatam?
A: You don’t have to believe that. You can believe in whichever śāstra you want. But if you are interested in bhakti, Bhagavata is the emperor of all shastras.
Q: But Vyāsa himself is doing nindā of what he wrote earlier.
A: I wouldn’t say he is doing nindā. He is explaining that bhakti is the supreme process. na hi nindā nindayitum pravartate api tu vidheya stotum – the purpose of criticism is not to criticize other paths but to establish the conclusion about the subject under discussion.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa also says there is a hierarchy—in the sixth chapter of the Gītā, He says that bhakti is superior to other processes, including karma and jñāna. But He Himself explained those processes in the prior chapters. Does that mean Śrī Kṛṣṇa is correcting His mistakes? He is criticizing karma and jñāna? No.
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