SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
ye tv etad abhyasūyanto
nānutiṣṭhanti me matam
sarva-jñāna-vimūḍhāṁs tān
viddhi naṣṭān acetasaḥ
‘But whoso, blaspheming, carry not out this, My edict, —know them to be blind to all knowledge; and, bereft of understanding, (to be) lost.’
My edict or truth is that to all ātmā-essence I am the Prop. It is to Me as My body, standing to Me in the relation of disposable property (śesha-bhūtam) ; and it derives all its impulses from Me (explained in verse 30, ante).
Whoso, then, do not contemplate and act conformably to this law or truth; whoso, otherwise, are not earnest; whoso, otherwise again, may take to cavilling, know them all to be utterly destitute of any knowledge. Therefore they are to be considered as deprived of understanding and lost[1. Lost means, incapable of rising to those heights of perfection which is in the power of souls. Also in verse 3.33.5: Nashtaḥ is literally he who is lost. Vedāntāchārya explains that ‘the loss’ means that the man becomes incapacitated to work for higher spiritual objects (purushārth-āyogyam).].
Understanding or intelligence (chetaḥ) is that which gives to one the true knowledge of things; in its absence their knowledge would be pervert or crooked (viparīta-jñāna), and uttermost ignorance then prevails.
Thus, it has been shown that ‘actorship’ arises from union with matter, from its (matter’s) qualities (guṇas) being provoked by the contact; and that this is (ultimately) dependent on the Supreme Spirit.
Reflecting in this manner, Karma-Yoga is meet, both for him who is competent for the Path of Karma-Yoga, and for him who is competent for the Path of Jñāna-Yoga. Karma-Yoga is meet for both (it was explained), on account of its facility, exemption from dangers, and requiring no help of other methods for its prosecution, inasmuch as in it is involved a (required amount of the) knowledge of ātmā; whereas Jñāna-Yoga is difficult to practise, susceptible of failures, and inasmuch as some karma, —such as that required to find the wherewithal to maintain bodily existence— is necessarily demanded (without which how is any one to perform any yoga at all?)
Also it was pointed out how necessary it was for a man of distinction to specially engage in karma (as an example to the world).
What the difficulties and the dangers are in respect of Jñāna-Yoga, are now explained in the remaining portion of this (third) Lecture:—
archived in http://githa.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org