“He who, setting aside the ordinance of scripture (śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya), acts under the impulse of desire (kāma-kārataḥ), attains neither perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme goal. Therefore let the scripture be your authority (śāstraṃ pramāṇaṃ te) in determining what is to be done and not done.” This is the Gītā’s answer to the antinomian temptation — the notion that, since the wise are “beyond rules” (2.46), anyone may simply follow his impulses. Not so, K insists: for one not yet established in the Self, unbridled desire-driven action is exactly the demonic path just described. Until the inner compass is purified, the outer compass of the śāstra is the safeguard. The freedom of the Avadhūta is earned by the discipline of the seeker; to claim the freedom without the discipline is only self-indulgence in disguise. The scripture is the trellis on which the young vine must grow before it can stand alone.