Bhagavad Gita · Sankhya YogaChapter 2, Shloka 45 (2.45)

"Traiguṇya-viṣayā vedāḥ" — the Vedas deal with the three gunas. This sentence is among the most misunderstood. Two traditional readings:

• Shankaracharya: traiguṇya = samsara; the Vedas (the ritual portion) have as their subject matter what reveals samsara (the realm of the three gunas). "Be nistraiguṇya" = niṣkāmo bhava — be free of selfish desire.
• Ramanuja — a gentle reading: Traiguṇya = people in whom sattva, rajas or tamas predominates. The Vedas, out of the greatest tenderness (love), give all three kinds of people knowledge of what is good for them according to their nature. If the Vedas had not taught people dominated by rajas and tamas the means to heaven and the like, in keeping with their gunas, they would not have known the right means, and, driven by desire, would have walked wrong paths and been ruined. So the Vedas are for everyone — but you, Arjuna, become nitya-sattva-stha; make moksha your goal.

That is, in neither reading is there condemnation of the Vedas — it is a call to Arjuna to take up a higher level.

Five instructions:

1. Nistraiguṇya — above the gunas (Shankara: free of selfish desire).
2. Nirdvandva — free from pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain.
3. Nitya-sattva-stha — ever established in sattva (clarity, peace).
4. Niryogakṣema — free from worry about acquiring and preserving. Shankaracharya: for one absorbed in acquiring and preserving, it is hard to walk the path of the highest good.
5. Ātmavān — established in the self, apramatta (vigilant).