Some are confused in the network of āgamas, others in the accumulation of nigamas, others in logic;They do not know the liberating truth.

This verse criticizes the excess of scholarship without direct experience:

Āgama-jālena — in the network of the āgamas.The āgamas are tantric texts, scriptures from the śaiva and śākta traditions.Jāla (network) suggests that instead of releasing, they can trap.

Nigama-sañcayaiḥ — in the accumulation of nigamas.The nigamas are the Vedas and associated texts.Sañcaya (accumulation) implies collection without digestion.

Tarkeṇa — by logic.The nyāya school and other rationalist traditions.Reasoning can clarify but also confuse if it becomes an end in itself.

Muhyanti — they get confused, they get lost, they get disoriented.Theoretical knowledge without practice produces confusion, not clarity.

Naiva jānanti tārakam — they do not know tāraka, that which liberates, that which saves.Tāraka derives from tṝ (to cross);It is that which makes one cross the ocean of saṃsāra.

The Bihar School interprets this verse as a warning against spiritual intellectualism.Study is useful, but without direct meditative practice, it remains sterile.

Mallinson notes that this anti-intellectual attitude is common in practice texts, emphasizing experience over theory.