ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उविद्यायां रताः ॥ ९ ॥
andhaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti ye’vidyām upāsate .
tato bhūya iva te tamo ya uvidyāyāṃ ratāḥ .. 9 ..
Tap a word for its meaning
andham tamaḥ = blinding darkness. praviśanti-anti = (they pass). Who? ye avidyām upāsate = they who practise karma. avidyā is what is other than knowledge i.e. karma, because karma is opposed to knowledge. upāsate = devoutly practise i.e. perform only karma such as agnihotra. tataḥ i.e. than such blinding darkness. bhāya iva = greater, as it were. [ 1 ] tè tamaḥ i.e. they pass into darkness. Who? ye u = those who, on the other hand; vidyāyām = in meditating on deities; ratāḥ take delight i.e. who-engage themselves in it to the exclusion of karma.
Now follows a statement of the distinction between the respective fruits of meditation and karma, as an argument for their simultaneous practice. Otherwise, if of the two thus proximately stated, one only is known to bear fruit and not the other, the relation between them would be (according to rules of interpretation, not one of co-ordination but) only that of subordination —
[ 1 ]: I read bahutaram iva.