Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

So now Krishna will talk about Pratika Upshaka, Prithake tvena Bhudha those who worship the Devatas, Krishna is saying they are also worshiping Me but indirectly. 

Bg 9.20

trai-vidyā māṁ soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā
yajñair iṣṭvā svar-gatiṁ prārthayante
te puṇyam āsādya surendra-lokam
aśnanti divyān divi deva-bhogān

Word for word: 

trai–vidyāḥ — the knowers of the three Vedas; mām — Me; soma–pāḥ — drinkers of soma juice; pūta — purified;pāpāḥ — of sins; yajñaiḥ — 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.

 

trai-vidyā, refers to three Vedas Krishna has earlier referred to ṛk sāma yajur eva ca, I am this three Vedas. What does this Vedas teach? They primarily teach of doing Karma Kanda rituals by which one can attain Swarga, 

trai-vidyā māṁ soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā,

soma-pāḥ means those who drink soma, which is one kind of Amrita, not exactly the same which was got by churning of ocean, but this is a drink which is conducive for attainment of Swarga, that means sacrifices are performed at that time soma is also there as part of sacrifice and by drinking that one gets punya, so in this world there is intoxication and when people drink people take intoxication it leads them to terrible tamo guna, it leads to a temporary spate of madness which people choose to undergo, but soma is entirely different normal material intoxication takes our consciousness down to tamo guna whereas Soma takes our consciousness upwards towards Sattva,  also it is delicious and enjoyable, it stimulate the senses for enjoyment but within the frame work of Dharma, soma-pāḥ pūta-pāpā, so these people will drink Soma they will become purified of papa, yajñair iṣṭvā, they are actually worshiping Me through Yajna, māṁ is important, and what is their goal? To go to Swarga, for which one had to acquire adequate punya, 

svar-gatiṁ prārthayante, so by doing Yajna and drinking Soma one is praying aspiring for going to haven svar-gatiṁ, and then te puṇyam āsādya, when they acquire adequate Punya then what happens? surendra-lokam, so they attain Sura – Indra, Indra of demigods, that is Indra Loka and then aśnanti divyān, they enjoy celestial delights, so the word Divya can have different meanings based on context, in 4.9 Janma Karmam Ca Mey Divyamam, there Divya refers to transcendental, where as here Divya refers to celestial, 

We have three existence terrestrial (earth), celestial (higher material heavenly) and spiritual or transcendental. 

So the message of BG is not to seek for higher material happiness but seek for higher THAN material happiness. 

divi deva-bhogān, refers to heavenly divi is heavenly and buhi is earthly. deva-bhogān, means that which is enjoyed by devatas. So here people are aspiring to go and enjoy in the heavens, Krishna has talked about Karma Kanda and going to heaven for enjoying in 2.42 and 2.43. And there He has said that people who wants this are avipaścitaḥ. yām imāṁ puṣpitāṁ vācaṁ
pravadanty avipaścitaḥ so in 2.42 He has said that they are not very discriminating people, but here Krishna is not trying to give discriminating capacity here He is telling they are actually worshiping Me only but the problem is they are not worshiping Me directly, they are worshiping Me indirectly through the worship of devatas, and their desire is not to come to Me but there desire is to go to heavens, so here Krishna is telling even karma kandi rituals are also worship of Him but because it is not done in consciousness of Him so it doesn’t lead to attainment of Him.

End of transcription.