Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.20.3

guṇa-doṣa-bhidā-dṛṣṭim

antareṇa vacas tava

niḥśreyasaḿ kathaḿ nṝṇāḿ

niṣedha-vidhi-lakṣaṇam

SYNONYMS

guṇa — piety; doṣa — sin; bhidā — the difference between; dṛṣṭim — seeing; antareṇa — without; vacaḥ — words; tava — Your; niḥśreyasam — perfection of life, liberation; katham — how is it possible; nṝṇām — for human beings; niṣedha — prohibitions; vidhi — positive injunctions; lakṣaṇam — characterized by.

TRANSLATION

Without seeing the difference between piety and sin, how can one understand Your own instructions in the form of Vedic literatures, which order one to act piously and forbid one to act sinfully? Furthermore, without such authorized Vedic literatures, which ultimately award liberation, how can human beings achieve the perfection of life?

PURPORT

If one does not accept the necessity of performing pious activities and avoiding sinful activities, it becomes very difficult to understand authorized religious scriptures; and without such scriptures, how can human beings attain salvation? This is the essence of Śrī Uddhava's question.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
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Dravida dasa Brahmacari