द्वाविमावनुशोचन्ति बालावसदवग्रहौ ।
यल्लोकशास्त्रोपनतं न राति न तदिच्छति ॥२५॥

dvÄv imÄv anuÅ›ocanti
bÄlÄv asad-avagrahau
yal loka-Å›Ästropanataá¹
na rÄti na tad icchati

 dvau - two kinds; imau - these; anuÅ›ocanti - they lament; bÄlau - ignorant; asat - the foolish; avagrahau - taking the path of; yat - that which; loka - by custom; Å›Ästra - by scriptures; upanatam - presented; na - never; rÄti - follows; na - neither; tat - that; icchati - desires.


Text

One who does not give charity according to the customs or injunctions of the scriptures and one who does not accept charity in that way are considered to be in the mode of ignorance. Such persons follow the path of the foolish. Surely they must lament at the end.

Purport

It is herein stated that one should strictly follow the scriptures if one actually wants an auspicious life. The same is explained in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (16.23):

yaḥ Å›Ästra-vidhim utsá¹›jya
 vartate kÄma-kÄrataḥ
na sa siddhim avÄpnoti
 na sukhaá¹ na parÄá¹ gatim

“He who discards scriptural injunctions and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme destination.†One who does not strictly follow the terms of the Vedic injunctions never attains success in life or happiness. And what to speak of going home, back to Godhead.

One Å›Ästric injunction holds that a householder, a ká¹£atriya or an administrative head should not refuse to accept a woman if she voluntarily requests to become a wife. Since KÄlakanyÄ, the daughter of Time, was deputed by NÄrada Muni to offer herself to Yavana-rÄja, the King of the Yavanas could not refuse her. All transactions must be performed in light of the Å›Ästric injunctions. The Å›Ästric injunctions are confirmed by great sages like NÄrada Muni. As stated by Narottama dÄsa ṬhÄkura, sÄdhu-Å›Ästra-guru-vÄkya, cittete kariyÄ aikya: one should follow the principles of saintly persons, scriptures and the spiritual master. In this way one is sure to attain success in life. KÄlakanyÄ, the daughter of Time, presented herself before the King of the Yavanas precisely in terms of sÄdhu, Å›Ästra and guru. Thus there was no reason for not accepting her.