16.23 Acting on impulse instead Krishna speaks
यः शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य वर्तते कामकारतः
न स सिद्धिमवाप्नोति न सुखं न परां गतिम्
yaḥ śhāstra-vidhim utsṛijya vartate kāma-kārataḥ
na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim
One who casts aside what the scriptures direct and acts on the impulse of desire reaches neither perfection nor happiness nor the highest goal.
Explanation
Acting on impulse instead of on the measure.
One who casts aside what the scriptures direct and follows the impulse of desire reaches neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the goal.
Three failures listed, and happiness is one of them. The argument is not that the impulsive life is forbidden but that it does not deliver the thing it is chasing.
Word by word
- yaḥ
- who
- śhāstra-vidhim
- scriptural injunctions
- utsṛijya
- discarding
- vartate
- act
- kāma-kārataḥ
- under the impulse of desire
- na
- neither
- saḥ
- they
- siddhim
- perfection
- avāpnoti
- attain
- na
- nor
- sukham
- happiness
- na
- nor
- parām
- the supreme
- gatim
- goal
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