Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20.3

guna-dosha-bhida-drishtim

antarena vacas tava

nihsreyasam katham nrinam

nishedha-vidhi-lakshanam

SYNONYMS

guna -- piety; dosha -- sin; bhida -- the difference between; drishtim -- seeing; antarena -- without; vacah -- words; tava -- Your; nihsreyasam -- perfection of life, liberation; katham -- how is it possible; nrinam -- for human beings; nishedha -- prohibitions; vidhi -- positive injunctions; lakshanam -- 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 Sri Uddhava's question.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari