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TEXT 24 tasmac chastram pramanam te
SYNONYMS  tasmat--therefore;
sastram--scriptures; pramanam--evidence; te--your;
karya--duty; akarya--forbidden activities; vyavasthitau--in
determining; jnatva--knowing; sastra--of scripture; vidhana--regulations;
uktam--as declared; karma--work; kartum--to do; iha
arhasi--you should do it.
TRANSLATION One should
understand what is duty and what is not duty by the regulations of the
scriptures. Knowing such rules and regulations, one should act so that
he may gradually be elevated.
PURPORT As stated in
the Fifteenth Chapter, all the rules and regulations of the Vedas
are meant for knowing Krsna. If one understands Krsna from the Bhagavad-gita
and becomes situated in Krsna consciousness, engaging himself in devotional
service, he has reached the highest perfection of knowledge offered by
the Vedic literature. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu made this process very easy:
He asked people simply to chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare
Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare and to engage in the devotional
service of the Lord and eat the remnants of foodstuff offered to the Deity.
One who is directly engaged in all these devotional activities is to be
understood as having studied all Vedic literature. He has come to the conclusion
perfectly. Of course, for the ordinary persons who are not in Krsna consciousness
or who are not engaged in devotional service, what is to be done and what
is not to be done must be decided by the injunctions of the Vedas.
One should act accordingly, without argument. That is called following
the principles of sastra, or scripture. Sastra is without
the four principal defects that are visible in the conditioned soul: imperfect
senses, the propensity for cheating, certainty of committing mistakes,
and certainty of being illusioned. These four principal defects in conditioned
life disqualify one from putting forth rules and regulations. Therefore,
the rules and regulations as described in the sastra--being above
these defects--are accepted without alteration by all great saints, acaryas
and great souls.
In India
there are many parties of spiritual understanding, generally classified
as two: the impersonalist and the personalist. Both of them, however, lead
their lives according to the principles of the Vedas. Without following
the principles of the scriptures, one cannot elevate himself to the perfectional
stage. One who actually, therefore, understands the purport of the sastras
is considered fortunate.
In human
society, aversion to the principles of understanding the Supreme Personality
of Godhead is the cause of all falldowns. That is the greatest offense
of human life. Therefore, maya, the material energy of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, is always giving us trouble in the shape of the
threefold miseries. This material energy is constituted of the three modes
of material nature. One has to raise himself at least to the mode of goodness
before the path to understanding the Supreme Lord can be opened. Without
raising oneself to the standard of the mode of goodness, one remains in
ignorance and passion, which are the cause of demoniac life. Those in the
modes of passion and ignorance deride the scriptures, deride the holy man,
and deride the proper understanding of the spiritual master, and they do
not care for the regulations of the scriptures. In spite of hearing the
glories of devotional service, they are not attracted. Thus they manufacture
their own way of elevation. These are some of the defects of human society,
which lead to the demoniac status of life. If, however, one is able to
be guided by a proper and bona fide spiritual master, who can lead one
to the path of elevation, to the higher stage, then one's life becomes
successful.
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