ननु क्रिया वेदमुखेन चोदिता तथैव विद्या पुरुषार्थसाधनम् । कर्तव्यता प्राणभृतः प्रचोदिता विद्यासहायत्वमुपैति सा पुनः ॥ ११॥
Just as the Vedas declare that knowledge is the means for attaining the ultimate goal, with the same emphasis the Vedas also prescribe karmas. Moreover, the Karmas prescribed are compulsory for a living being. Therefore, these Karmas can be complementary to the path of knowledge.
The scriptures have even cautioned that by not doing karma one will incur sin; therefore, the seeker of liberation should always perform his prescribed Karma. In case you insist that the path of knowledge is independent and quiet efficient in achieving the goal by itself and needs no karma – not even in a dream – then..
न सत्यकार्योऽपि हि यद्वदध्वरः प्रकाङ्क्षतेऽन्यानपि कारकादिकान् । तथैव विद्या विधितः प्रकाशितै- र्विशिष्यते कर्मभिरेव मुक्तये ॥ १३॥
- It is not so. Just as the Vedic rituals, though meritorious in their results, depend upon many accessories such as the doer, and so on, so too the path of knowledge becomes capable of giving liberation only with the help of those karmas that are revealed by the Vedic statements.
What some disputers argue as above is distinctly inconsistent with reason, because action cannot be performed without egoism, that is to say, action is sprung from the attachment for the body, while by non attachment alone vidyä (That knowledge which leads to an intuitive perception of Brahman, the one, infinite, in time and space.) is gained.
The exclusive thought of the Self, arrived at through contemplation with a purified heart, is called knowledge (vidya). Karma rises from its various (five) causes, while vidya demolishes all these instruments of karma.