When the jṣānī or devotee remains situated according to his qualification it is praised as a good quality. With a desire to give up material enjoyment, there should be restriction on karma for the practitioners of karma who are innately impure, by following the rules and avoiding the prohibitions. “Why do you say there is no other method? What is the fault if one uses another method?” Sve sve indicates the jṣānī and the bhakta. The meaning is this. If the jṣānī did not destroy sin by jṣāna and the devotee did not destroy sin by bhakti, they would have to perform penances or atonements to destroy the sin. Because there are plenty of scriptural statements that jṣāna and bhakti destroy sin, if sin is destroyed, why should they perform penances with a different qualification (karma-yoga)? If they were to perform atonements, it would mean that they have two faults: giving up their dharma and practicing another’s dharma. There should be no inclination for sin in the jṣānī or the devotee, but if by fate it occurs, sin is destroyed by those processes themselves, since jṣāna and bhakti are purifying by their very nature. Thus the Vedas generally say that the jṣānī and devotee do not fall within the qualifications of injunction and prohibition, good quality and bad quality. However, of the two, when the devotee commits sin, it is everywhere said that one should not see it as a fault, or think that he is subject to material guṇas, since it is explained that he is beyond the guṇas. Because the jṣānī is in sattva-guṇa, his control of the mind and senses are seen as good qualities and the lack of control are seen as bad qualities: yas tv asaṁyata-ṣaḍ-vargaḥ pracaṇḍendriya-sārathiḥ jṣāna-vairāgya-rahitas tri-daṇḍam upajīvati surān ātmānam ātma-sthaṁ nihnute māṁ ca dharma-hā avipakva-kaṣāyo ’smād amuṣmāc ca vihīyate One who has not controlled the six forms of illusion (lust, anger, greed, excitement, false pride and intoxication), whose intelligence, the leader of the senses, is extremely attached to material things, who is bereft of knowledge and detachment, who adopts the sannyāsa order of life to make a living, who deceives the devatās, ātmā and Paramātmā, thus ruining all religious principles, and who is still infected by material contamination, is deviated and lost both in this life and the next. SB 11.18.40 Therefore it is not a fault to find good and bad among the jṣānīs. Karmīs by their nature are subject to good and bad. The Vedas repeatedly enjoin that there should a restriction (niyamaḥ) on the natural inclination of engaging in sin for karmīs attached to their houses and bodies by applying the injunctions and prohibitions, for the purpose of giving up attachment to material enjoyment. The meaning is this. Man’s inclination to sin is present and cannot be completely stopped immediately. This destruction is accomplished by restricting the natural inclination by injunctions and prohibitions: do this, do not do that. It will be explained later how the Vedas do not encourage enjoyment. utpattyaiva hi kāmeṣu prāṇeṣu sva-janeṣu ca āsakta-manaso martyā ātmano ’nartha-hetuṣu Simply by material birth, human beings become attached within their minds to personal sense gratification, long duration of life, sense activities, bodily strength, sexual potency and friends and family. Their minds are thus absorbed in that which defeats their actual self-interest. SB 11.21.24 natān aviduṣaḥ svārthaṁ bhrāmyato vṛjinādhvani kathaṁ yuṣjyāt punas teṣu tāṁs tamo viśato budhaḥ Those ignorant of their real self-interest are wandering on the path of material existence, gradually heading toward darkness. Why would the Vedas further encourage them in sense gratification if they, although foolish, submissively pay heed to Vedic injunctions? SB 11.21.25