Isha Upanishad 49

49

tatra andhaṃ tamaḥ adarśanātmakaṃ tamaḥ praviśanti /
ke? ye 'vidyāṃ vidyāyā anyā avidyā tāṃ karma ityarthaḥ,

Of these two, they praviśanti, enter; into andhaṁ tamaḥ, blinding darkness, characterised by absence of perception. Who? Ye avidyām, those who (worship) avidyā. Avidyā is different from vidyā, i.e. it is karma, since karma is opposed to vidyā; (they) upāsate, worship; that avidyā in the form of Agnihotra etc., alone. The import is that they perform this whole-heartedly. Tataḥ, than that darkness, characterised as blindness; bhūyaḥ iva tamaḥ, into greater darkness; te, they; enter. Who? Ye, they, who giving up rites; vidyāyām u ratāḥ, are engaged only in vidyā, are always bent on the meditation on (and worship of) gods.

With regard to that matter, again, the separate secondary results of meditation and rites are advanced as reasons for the combination of the two, as otherwise, if one of these two closely associated factors bore fruit, while the other did not, they would be related as the part and the whole, (which is absurd).footnote{Vidyā and karma are very often enjoined to be performed separately by men of different tendencies; and separate results are enjoined for them. This would not have been so, if either formed part of the other.}

Of these two, they praviśanti, enter; into andhaṁ tamaḥ, blinding darkness, characterised by absence of perception. Who? Ye avidyām, those who (worship) avidyā. Avidyā is different from vidyā, i.e. it is karma, since karma is opposed to vidyā; (they) upāsate, worship; that avidyā in the form of Agnihotra etc., alone. The import is that they perform this whole-heartedly. Tataḥ, than that darkness, characterised as blindness; bhūyaḥ iva tamaḥ, into greater darkness; te, they; enter. Who? Ye, they, who giving up rites; vidyāyām u ratāḥ, are engaged only in vidyā, are always bent on the meditation on (and worship of) gods.