गोविन्द भाष्य (श्रील बलदेव विद्याभूषण - अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

Here someone may object: Is it not so that past karmic reactions are destroyed only by experiencing them? If this is said, then I reply: Although transcendental knowledge has the power to burn away all past karmic reactions, by the Lord's desire, in order to preserve the appearance of the ordinary workings of karma, transcendental knowledge does not completely burn away all the karmic reactions created in the present body. In this way the karma of a person situated in transcendental knowledge is like a cloth that has been singed by fire. That is what is meant by the scriptures' statement that karmic reactions are destroyed only by experiencing them,. This will be further explained in sūtra 4.1.15. Sūtra 17 ūrdhva-retaḥsu ca śabde hi ūrdhva—up; retaḥsu—semen; ca—and; śabde—in the Śruti-śāstra; hi—indeed. In the Śruti-śāstras indeed among the celibates. Purport by Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa The pariṇiṣṭhita devotees and especially the sannyāsīs and other celibates advanced in transcendental knowledge are especially free to act as they like. This truth explained in the Śruti-śāstra again confirms the truth that transcendental knowledge is independent of the Vedic rituals. The scriptural passage referred to in this sūtra is from the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (3.5.1) and is given below: tasmād brāhmaṇaḥ pāṇḍityaṁ nirvidya bālyena tiṣṭhāset. bālyaṁ ca pāṇḍityaṁ ca nirvidyātha munir amaunaṁ ca maunaṁ ca nirvidyātha brāhmaṇaḥ kena syād yena syāt tenedṛśaḥ. "A brāhmaṇa should then renounce scholarship and become like a child. Then he should renounce both scholarship and childlike simplicity and become a silent sage. Then he should renounce the stance of either being or not being a silent sage. Then he becomes a brāhmaṇa, a person who directly sees the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When he attains this stage he may act in whatever way he likes." In Bhagavad-gītā (3.25) the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains: