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thus naive to believe that observance of any ritual without an eye towards its purpose can be helpful.
Moreover, the lifeless ritualists object to resorting to the path of knowledge. They think that the path of knowledge is slippery and hazardous. There are too many pitfalls and is not meant for them. As such, they turn their back towards knowledge. Shrimad therefore warns against the performance of rituals without inner discrimination and against the misconceptions prevailing in that respect.
Lifeless rituality occurs even among the followers of Shrimad. Many of them ritually recite Atmasiddhi Shästra and other compositions as mere routine. Even this stanza is recited mechanically. Very few people remain vigilant about the meaning and purpose of what they recite.
Bandh Moksha Chhe Kalpana, Bhäkhe Väni Mänhin; Varte Mohäveshmän, Shushka Jnäni Te Ähin.
Bare knowledgeable are those, who verbally talk of bondage and liberation as being imaginary; but who behave under the influence of delusion. (5)
Explanation & Discussion:
This stanza describes the characteristics of the bare knowledgeable people. A bare knowledgeable one is he, who has acquired information from scriptures but has not applied it in daily life. There are people, who come across the spiritual books dealing with absolute purity of soul. Thereby they conclude that since the soul is intangible, it cannot be defiled; it is incorruptible and stays pure forever. Like Vedänt they contend that soul cannot be polluted and the concept of its defilement is merely imaginary; it always stays pure and does not incur any bondage. Therefore nothing is required to be done for liberation, except to understand the inherent pure nature of soul.
By virtue of their belief in purity of soul, such persons may perhaps stay away from gross passions, but they usually remain unconcerned about the subtle ones. With the belief that sense organs have nothing to do with soul, they are also likely to indulge in sense objects. They fail to realize that the true knowledge of soul does not leave scope for attachment to any worldly object or for indulging in anger, animosity, arrogance, or other defiling instinct. The truly knowledgeable people invariably refrain from indulging in indolence, undue indulgence, infatuation, etc.
he truly knowile for indulging inge of soul does notes to indulge in
On account of previous Karma, the sense of attachment or aversion may at times arise even to an enlightened person, but he understands that such sense is not compatible with the purity of soul and feels sorry that such sense arises. In this connection Shrimad has stated (Vachanamrut # 819) as under.
"When the sense instincts become too powerful, the sensible person feels much grieved to notice the absence of his vigor and continually despises himself. Repeatedly looking at the self with the sense of despise and taking recourse to the words and conduct of the great men, he generates internal vigor and drives back those instincts even by exerting
