Devanagari
त्रैविद्या मां सोमपा: पूतपापा
यज्ञैरिष्ट्वा स्वर्गतिं प्रार्थयन्ते ।
ते पुण्यमासाद्य सुरेन्द्रलोक-
मश्नन्ति दिव्यान्दिवि देवभोगान् ॥ २० ॥
Verse text
trai-vidyā māṁ soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā
yajṣair iṣṭvā svar-gatiṁ prārthayante
te puṇyam āsādya surendra-lokam
aśnanti divyān divi deva-bhogān
Synonyms
trai-vidyāḥ
—
the knowers of the three Vedas
;
mām
—
Me
;
soma-pāḥ
—
drinkers of soma juice
;
pūta
—
purified
;
pāpāḥ
—
of sins
;
yajṣaiḥ
—
with sacrifices
;
iṣṭvā
—
worshiping
;
svaḥ-gatim
—
passage to heaven
;
prārthayante
—
pray for
;
te
—
they
;
puṇyam
—
pious
;
āsādya
—
attaining
;
sura-indra
—
of Indra
;
lokam
—
the world
;
aśnanti
—
enjoy
;
divyān
—
celestial
;
divi
—
in heaven
;
deva-bhogān
—
the pleasures of the gods.
Translation
Those who study the Vedas and drink the soma juice, seeking the heavenly planets, worship Me indirectly. Purified of sinful reactions, they take birth on the pious, heavenly planet of Indra, where they enjoy godly delights.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
20. Knowers of the three Vedas, worshipping Me indirectly through sacrifice, drinking soma and becoming purified, pray for Svarga. Attaining puṇya in the form of the planet of Indra, they enjoy in heaven the celestial pleasures of the devas.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
20. Those who, knowing the three Vedas, worshipping Me indirectly through sacrifice, drinking soma and becoming purified, pray for svarga. Attaining puṇya in the form of the planet of Indra, they enjoy in heaven the pleasures of the devas.
Purport
The word trai-vidyāḥ refers to the three Vedas – Sāma, Yajur and Ṛg. A brāhmaṇa who has studied these three Vedas is called a tri-vedī. Anyone who is very much attached to knowledge derived from these three Vedas is respected in society. Unfortunately, there are many great scholars of the Vedas who do not know the ultimate purport of studying them. Therefore Kṛṣṇa herein declares Himself to be the ultimate goal for the tri-vedīs. Actual tri-vedīs take shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and engage in pure devotional service to satisfy the Lord. Devotional service begins with the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and side by side trying to understand Kṛṣṇa in truth. Unfortunately those who are simply official students of the Vedas become more interested in offering sacrifices to the different demigods like Indra and Candra. By such endeavor, the worshipers of different demigods are certainly purified of the contamination of the lower qualities of nature and are thereby elevated to the higher planetary systems or heavenly planets known as Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, etc. Once situated on those higher planetary systems, one can satisfy his senses hundreds of thousands of times better than on this planet.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Those devotees who worship Me through those three methods, and know Me as the Supreme Lord, become liberated. [Note: These three types of devotees were classed as inferior to the other types, and performed jṣāna-yajṣa as part of bhakti. Because the worship is inferior to that of the ananya and mixed devotees, they attain less than sālokya.] But those who follow material karma do not become liberated. This is explained in two verses. Those who study and know the three Vedas, Ṛk, Yajur, and Sāma, or those who are absorbed in the karmas described in those three Vedas, not knowing that Indra and other devatās are actually My forms, and consequently worship Me (indirectly) through worshipping those forms (mām iṣṭvā), drink the remnants of the sacrifice (soma-pāḥ), and thus attain puṇya.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Having described the qualities of His devotees, in order to give a further understanding of them, he contrasts them with those who are averse to the Lord in two verses.
The collection of three types of knowledge is trividyā. Those who study and know this are called traividyā according to tad adhīte tad veda (Pāṇini 4.2.59) This means those who are dedicated to the activities described in the three Vedas. Though they do not know that the forms of Indra and other devatās are My forms alone, actually they are worshipping Me situated in those respective forms by jyotiṣṭomā and other sacrifices prescribed in the three Vedas. Drinking the remnants of sacrifice, soma, and being purified of sins which obstruct their attainment of svarga (pūta papa), they pray for svarga. The rest of the verse is clear. It should be understood that the enjoyment they obtain is actually given only by Me.