“Those who read the scriptures but do not understand their purport are certainly the destroyer of religious principles”.
Brihad Smriti
Don’t be a donkey simply carrying the load of scriptures.Understand the purport. Imbibe the essence. And practice the message.
Devotion means enthusiasm. Donkey is lazy and foolish. But a genuine devotee is agile and wise.
Those who are like donkeys are called Bharavahi. Bhara means burden, while vahi means carrying. While genuine devotees are Sargrahi. Sar means essence and grahi means to absorb.
There are three types of Bharavahi:
1) Kapti (Hypocrites): People who externally present themselves as saints but within their aim is to enjoy and fulfill their selfish desires . These are further categorized into three types.
i.Puran khand: They read scriptures but have their own agendas. Khand means to divide.Such people divide the scriptures into arbitrary divisions and miss the entire point that the goal of scriptures is self realization. These are the religious materialists.
ii.Ardh Khand: Ardh means half. They divide the scriptures into half by accepting only the gyan kand part and not the karma kand part of the Vedas. Thus they only accept the impersonal aspect of God. Finally they want to become one with God. These are the Mayavadis.
iii.Arth Khand:They divide meaning of the text from the text itself. For them the meaning of the text is not important. Repetition of the mantras are more important than the meaning of the mantras.These are the Karma Kandis who believe in ritualistic actions.
2) Sampradaya Dveshi (The liberalists):
They hate to be part of any sampradaya. They do want to associate with any institution. For them the concept of spiritual institution and guru is disgusting. Even if they hear from saints and read scriptures but do so with an independent mind. Their philosophy is hear everyone but do what intellect says.
3) Sampradaya Asakt (The Fanatic)
These people are fanatically attached to their own sampradaya and demean other sampradaya.
In essence, if you wish to understand God, guard yourself from becoming a Bharavahi. Do not carry the burden of scriptures! Understand and serve God