Therefore scripture is the means of knowledge, the authority, for you in the settling of what may and may not be done, of what should and should not be done. So, having known, having understood, what is told by the rule of scripture, the rule being the laying-down by scripture of the form 'one should do, one should not do', you ought to do here that action which is your own, told by scripture; the word 'here' is to show the ground that is the field of eligibility for action. Thus ends the sixteenth chapter in the commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā composed by the most reverend Śaṅkara the Blessed, pupil of the most reverend Govinda the Blessed whose feet are worthy of worship, the venerable wandering ascetic of the supreme order.

Therefore, in the settling of what is to be done and what is not, in the determining of what is to be taken up and what is not, scripture alone is your authority. The Vedas, swelled out by the law-books, the histories, the Puranas, and the rest, make known the supreme truth named Purushottama, and the action that is of the form of His pleasing and is the means of attaining Him; knowing that truth and that action told by the rule of scripture, having understood it rightly, neither short of it nor beyond it, you ought to act; you ought to take up that alone.

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Madhvacharya does not comment on this verse.