तस्माच्छास्त्रं प्रमाणं ते कार्याकार्यव्यवस्थितौ ।
ज्ञात्वा शास्त्रविधानोक्तं कर्म कर्तुमिहार्हसि ॥
tasmāc chāstraṁ pramāṇaṁ te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau |
jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktaṁ karma kartum ihārhasi ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 16.24)
“Therefore, śāstra is the pramāṇa [i.e., means of knowledge] in determining what is to be done and not to be done. By understanding the stated injunctions of the śāstra hereto [i.e., in regard to karma], you become fit to perform it.”
Commentary
Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda comments that ‘śāstra’ here refers to Śruti, Smṛti, the Purāṇas, and other texts (śāstraṁ śruti-smṛti-purāṇādikam). Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa elaborates by saying that śāstra refers to the faultless Vedas of non-human origin, and not to statements concocted by persons subject to the defects of misunderstanding and so on (nirdoṣam apauruṣeyaṁ veda-rūpaṁ śāstram eva pramāṇam, na tu bhramādi-doṣavatā puruṣeṇotprekṣitaṁ vākyam). Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda comments that acting in accord with Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s directive in this verse is the fundamental cause of purification of the heart, complete knowledge, and liberation (tan-mūlatvāt sattva-śuddhi-samyag-jñāna-muktīnām ity arthaḥ).