Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 5
Karma, Jñāna, and Bhakti: Vedic Dharma, Piety and Sin, and the Boat of Human Life
गुणदोषभिदादृष्टिर्निगमात्ते न हि स्वत: । निगमेनापवादश्च भिदाया इति ह भ्रम: ॥ ५ ॥
guṇa-doṣa-bhidā-dṛṣṭir nigamāt te na hi svataḥ nigamenāpavādaś ca bhidāyā iti ha bhramaḥ
اے پروردگار، نیکی اور گناہ کا جو امتیاز دکھائی دیتا ہے وہ آپ ہی کے ویدی علم سے ہے، خود بخود نہیں۔ اور اگر وہی وید بعد میں اس امتیاز کو منسوخ کر دے تو یقیناً الجھن پیدا ہوگی۔
In the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15) Lord Kṛṣṇa states, vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ: “By all the Vedas I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I know the Veda as it is.” Vedic knowledge emanates from the breathing of the Personality of Godhead; therefore, whatever Lord Kṛṣṇa speaks is Veda, or perfect knowledge. The Vedic literatures are full of descriptions of piety and sin, but Lord Kṛṣṇa’s statement that one should transcend piety and sin is also to be understood as Vedic knowledge. Śrī Uddhava has understood this point and therefore requests Lord Kṛṣṇa to clear up an apparent contradiction. Ultimately, the material world gives the living entities a chance to satisfy their perverted desires and at the same time gradually achieve the liberation of going back home, back to Godhead. Thus material piety must be considered a means and never an absolute end, since the material world itself is not absolute, being temporary and limited. The Personality of Godhead is Himself the reservoir of all virtue and goodness. Those persons and activities that please the Lord are to be considered virtuous, and those that displease Him are to be considered sinful. There cannot be any other permanent definition of these terms. If one becomes a mundane moralist, forgetting the Supreme Lord, one’s position is certainly imperfect, and one will not achieve the ultimate goal of piety, going back home, back to Godhead. On the other hand, there is great fear among moralists that if the distinction between piety and sin is minimized, people will commit many atrocities in the name of God. In the modern world there is no clear understanding of spiritual authority, and moral men consider any appeal to transcend morality to be an invitation to fanaticism, anarchy, violence and corruption. Thus they regard material moral principles as more important than directly trying to please God. Because this point is controversial, Uddhava is anxiously requesting the Lord to give a clear explanation.
FAQs
This verse explains that the sense of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is learned through scriptural injunctions for regulated life, and that the same scriptures also ultimately negate such duality for one seeking final realization.
Kṛṣṇa is guiding Uddhava beyond rule-based moral dualities toward the ultimate conclusion—transcendence of material distinctions—while still honoring the Vedas’ role in purifying and elevating the conditioned soul.
Follow ethical guidance as a discipline for purification, but avoid pride and hatred based on ‘good/bad’ labels; cultivate devotion, humility, and steady inner clarity that sees beyond temporary material judgments.