OUR RELIGION

"Geeti seeghri sirahkampee tathaa likhitapaatakah 

anarthajnah alpakantascha shaidaite paatakaadhamaah."

The meaning of this is:  'He who sings the Vedas, he who chants them very fast, he who shakes his head while chanting, he who reads from writing, he who does not know the meaning and he whose voice is low-these are very inferior learners of the Vedas.'

Thus, the Vedas have been preserved not by being written, but by the process of oral learning or adhyayana.  It is the duty of the Braahmanas to engage themselves in this task. It is a whole-time job, in fact a function extending all through life.  Pursuit of other avocations of life will interfere with it.

That is why Braahmanas are forbidden from engaging in other pursuits.  That is also the reason why other persons to whom other avocations in life appropriately belong are not entrusted with this task of thus preserving the Vedas.  They have been prohibited from learning the Vedas. This is not to be understood as discriminating against them.  This has been ordained only to ensure that they discharge their own functions in society undistracted by other pursuits.

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