Lord Krishna has said that the Vedas are encompassed in three gunas (qualities) and not outside of them. The Vedas illuminate only three gunas .

“Treguna vishya veda nirtrogoonyo bhavarjun.”

“Oh Arjun! The Vedas will help develop the three gunas ( satta, rajas, and tamas ), but to know the Soul, go above the Vedas .”

This is a phenomenal sentence of Lord Krishna. He said to go beyond the Vedas in order to understand the Atma , but people do not understand this. He said, “Hey Arjun! In order to know the Atma , you must go beyond the three gunas (three categories of the prakruti ).” What are the three gunas ? The first is sattva, which means goodness or awareness. The second is rajo , which means passion and desires, and the last is tamas, which means darkness, unawareness, and lethargy. The Vedas are endowed with these three gunas , so your work will only be done if you rise above them. Moreover, these three gunas have duality, so go beyond them and understand the Atma . In conclusion, all four Veda claim “Na-eti, na-eti or neti, neti ” (This is not that. This is not that. The Atma you are looking for is not in here, so if you want to know the Atma, then you must go to a Gnani”.

In reality, the Vedas increase the intellect ( buddhi ). They explain things, but they also increase the buddhi , so do not hold on to them. They do not have the path of liberation and there is no connection with the Atma . There is no understanding of even a single attribute of the Atma , because in reference to the Atma , the Vedas say, ‘This is not that' ‘ Na eti .' So when people hang on to wrong information, they head in the wrong direction and are bound to take beating!

Questioner: Is the path of the Vedanta slightly longer?

Dadashri: It is long in the sense that it continues to develop the buddhi . If there is a religion in the world that increases the buddhi greatly, it is the path of Vedanta.

If one could understand what Lord Krishna had disclosed, he would be a true devotee. Lord Krishna has disclosed the whole science. And He even said that these four Vedas are for people at large, however those who want Moksha must go beyond these four Vedas and come into the Gita . The Gita is Gnan , it is the knowledge; it is the path of the heart.