Only those Shastras, which illuminate the right path of liberation, are worth
reading and listening. In this world all living beings are suffering from
innumerable kinds of miseries; if through the lamp (light) of Shastras, they
attain the right path of liberation, then by treading on that path they themselves
can be free from those miseries. And that liberation-path is nothing but a
passionless disposition. It is, therefore, desirable to read and listen to only
those Shastras in which the sole purpose of passionlessness has been
discoursed by judiciously contradicting delusion, attachment, aversion, etc. And all
those Shastras wherein the purpose of cultivating attachment feeling by
cherishing voluptuousness, merriment, etc., aversion feeling by fostering violent
activities, wars etc. and the perverted belief by nourishing the faith in false
elements has been advocated are not the Shastras but "weapons". Because
attachment, aversion, etc. fallacious feelings on account of which the Jiva
has suffered from miseries from eternity, the tendency of those instincts and
feelings was already existing in him even without imparting any training and if
through these Shastras the same instincts and feelings are fostered, then
what has been preached for the well being of Jiva on the contrary it may amount to
destruction of the very nature of the soul. Therefore, reading of and listening to
such Shastras is not desirable.
As has been stated about reading and listening, similarly, one should know about
composition, learning, teaching, thinking, writing, etc., by inference.
Thus only those Shastras which promote growth of passionlessness either
directly or traditionally are only worth studying.