Verse Text
yathā ekādaśe—
sve sve ’dhikāre yā niṣṭhā sa guṇaḥ parikīrtitaḥ |
viparyayas tu doṣaḥ syād ubhayor eṣa niścayaḥ ||65||
Translation
Thus, in the Eleventh Canto it is said: Steadiness in one’s own position is declared to be actual piety, whereas deviation from one’s position is considered impiety. In this way the two are definitely ascertained. SB 11.21.2
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The same point is made in the Bhāgavatam, and quoted later in this chapter (BRS 1.2.71):
sva-pāda-mūlam bhajataḥ priyasya
tyaktānya-bhāvasya hariḥ pareśaḥ
vikarma yac cotpatitaṁ kathaṣcid
dhunoti sarvaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ
One who has thus given up all other engagements and has taken full shelter at the lotus feet of Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is very dear to the Lord. Indeed, if such a surrendered soul accidentally commits some sinful activity, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is seated within everyone’s heart, immediately takes away the reaction to such sin. SB 11.5.42
With the words sve sve ādhikāre, different qualifications are signified for karma, jṣāna and bhakti. The two (ubhayoḥ) refers to the good quality and the fault. For the person qualified for pure bhakti, performance of the actions of karma or jṣāna, and failure to perform bhakti are both faults.
tasmān mad-bhakti-yuktasya yogino vai mad-ātmanaḥ
na jṣānaṁ na ca vairāgyaṁ prāyaḥ śreyo bhaved iha
Therefore, for a devotee engaged in My loving service, with mind fixed on Me, the cultivation of knowledge and renunciation is generally not the means of achieving the highest perfection within this world. SB 11.20.31
tāvat karmāṇi kurvīta na nirvidyeta yāvatā
mat-kathā-śravaṇādau vā śraddhā yāvan na jāyate
One should continue to perform the Vedic ritualistic activities until one actually becomes detached from material sense gratification and develops faith for hearing and chanting about Me. SB 11.20.9
Those qualified for jṣāna and karma are persons without such faith in bhakti. Though they may begin practicing pure bhakti by devotee association, they quickly show disrespect. As a result they fail to attain their goals. In that sense they become full of fault by giving up that for which they are qualified, namely, jṣāna and karma. Viparyayaḥ (opposite) means “not to be fixed in performing work for which one is qualified,” and also “to become fixed in some other work for which one is not qualified.”
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
In this connection Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī gives evidence from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Eleventh Canto, Twenty-first Chapter, verse 2, in which Lord Kṛṣṇa says to Uddhava, “The distinction between qualification and disqualification may be made in this way: persons who are already elevated in discharging devotional service will never again take shelter of the processes of fruitive activity or philosophical speculation. If one sticks to devotional service and is conducted by regulative principles given by the authorities and ācāryas, that is the best qualification.”