Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 25

अन्ये त्वेवमजानन्तः श्रुत्वान्येभ्य उपासते । तेऽपि चातितरन्त्येव मृत्युं श्रुतिपरायणाः

anye tvevamajānantaḥ śrutvānyebhya upāsate | te'pi cātitarantyeva mṛtyuṃ śrutiparāyaṇāḥ

Translation

Yet others, not knowing thus, worship, having heard from others; they, too, cross beyond death, adhering to what they heard.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

anye

others

tu

indeed

evam

this

ajānantaḥ

not knowing

śrutvā

having heard

anyebhyaḥ

from others

upāsate

worship

te

they

api

also

ca

and

atitaranti

cross over

eva

even

mṛtyum

death

śrutiparāyaṇāḥ

scripture, highest, refuge, whose, they

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

But there are yet others, who, not able to know the Self described above by any one of the several methods already pointed out, learn from others, from ācāryas or teachers who tell them "Do thou thus meditate upon this"; they then engage in worship, i.e., they contemplate the idea in full faith. Even they cross beyond death, i.e., beyond saṃsāra which is associated with death — even they whose best equipment when commencing to tread the path of mokṣa consists in what they have heard, who solely depend upon the authority of others' instructions. How much more so, then, those who can independently appreciate evidence and discriminate.