Bhagavad Gita 16.23
यः शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य वर्तते कामकारतः । न स सिद्धिमवाप्नोति न सुखं न परां गतिम् ॥
yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṁ na parāṁ gatim
Translation
He who, setting aside the ordinances of scripture, acts by impulse of desire, attains neither perfection nor happiness nor the supreme path.
Reflection
When have you trusted impulse against received wisdom, and what came of the experiment honestly?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Sixteen
Practical seal of the chapter. Whoever sets aside the shastra-vidhi and acts by kama-karatah, by impulse of desire, gets none of the three goods: not siddhi, not sukha, not param gatim. Read shastra-vidhi widely. It is not narrow rule-following. It is the accumulated wisdom of those who walked before, codified into ordinance for those who walk now. To set it aside in favor of impulse is to discard a map and walk into terrain by feel. Sometimes feel works. Often feel walks the seeker into the same asuri patterns named across this chapter. Krishna is not against innovation in practice. He is against the assumption that personal desire alone is sufficient compass. Read the map. Then walk.