16.24
Chapter 16, Verse 24
तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ। ज्ञात्वा शास्त्रविधानोक्तं कर्म कर्तुमिहार्हसि৷৷
tasmācchāstraṅ pramāṇaṅ tē kāryākāryavyavasthitau. jñātvā śāstravidhānōktaṅ karma kartumihārhasi৷৷
Translation
Therefore whenever there is doubt whether thou shouldst do a thing or not, let the scriptures guide thy conduct. In the light of the scriptures shouldst thou labour the whole of thy life."
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
तस्मात् therefore, शास्त्रम् scripture, प्रमाणम् (be) authority, ते they, कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, ज्ञात्वा having known, शास्त्रविधानोक्तम् what is said in the ordinance of the scriptures, कर्म action, कर्तुम् to do, इह here (in this world), अर्हसि shouldst. Commentary: He who desires the welfare of the Self should not disregard the commands of the scriptures. A man who is anxious to obtain eternal bliss should respect the Vedas and the Smritis which lay down the code of right conduct. He should readily renounce whatever the scriptures teach him to abandon and accept whatever he is directed to accept.He who is thus entirely devoted to the Vedas cannot meet with misfortune, grief or delusion. No mother is more kind than the scriptures for they restrain us from doing evil and bestow on us the greatest good (liberation or Moksha). Therefore treat the scriptures with great respect. Renounce all that the scriptures prohibit. Whatever is worthy of being done, that thou shouldst do thoroughly with all thy heart and all thy strength.Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the sixteenth discourse entitledThe Yoga of the Division Between The Divine and the Demoniacal. ,
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.