Verse 2.1.2

तदुताप्याहुः साम्नैनमुपागादिति साधुनैनमुपागादित्येव तदाहुरसाम्नैनमुपागादित्यसाधुनैनमुपगादित्येव तदाहुः ॥ २.१.२ ॥

tadutāpyāhuḥ sāmnainamupāgāditi sādhunainamupāgādityeva tadāhurasāmnainamupāgādityasādhunainamupagādityeva tadāhuḥ || 2.1.2 ||

2. This is why people say, ‘He has succeeded in getting access to that distinguished person by virtue of sāma,’ when they mean he has gone to that distinguished person by honest and legitimate means. Similarly, they say, ‘By virtue of asāma he went to that distinguished person,’ when they mean he got to that person by unethical means.

Word-for-word explanation:

Tat uta āhuḥ api, this is why people say; sāmnā, by virtue of sāma; enam, a [high-placed] person; upāgāt iti, someone got access to; sādhunā, [they mean] by good conduct; enam upāgāt iti eva, he got access to him; tat āhuḥ, [similarly] this is what people say; asāmnā, by virtue of asāma; enam upāgāt iti, he got access to him; asādhunā, [when they mean] by bad conduct; enam upāgāt iti eva, he got access to him; tat āhuḥ, this is what people say.

Commentary:

The question is: What is good and what is bad? Suppose you have to meet a very distinguished person who is far above you in status. It is very difficult to meet that person, but without doing anything wrong you are, somehow or other, able to meet him. This is called sādhu—fair, honest, good, beautiful, decent, elegant. The opposite of this is asādhu—bad, ugly, dishonest, condemnable.