Verse 8.26

Verse 8.26: “These then are the Bright and the Dark Pathvays of the living world, which are deemed eternal; by the one departing, he returns not; by the other (departing), he again returns. (238)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

These are the two pathvays from the beginning of Time—one straight and the other crooked; I have spoken of them, so that you should know which is good and which is evil, and what is real and what is unreal, and you should find out what is your real good. Just see, will anybody take a leap into deep waters when there is seen available an excellent raft? Who would follow a crooked path leaving a good one? How would one, able to discriminate between poison and nectar, leave off nectar? In the same way, he who sees a straight way, would not follow a crooked one. Therefore, the (first) thing one should do is to test what is real and what is false, and once this test is taken, no harm shall be done at the critical time. Else, a very grave danger awaits the Yogin, at the time of the fall of the body and there would arise a great confusion about the two path-ways, and the study of the Yoga Discipline made all through the life, will all be in jeopardy.

If a being is to miss accidentally the straight path-way and to take to the smoky (dark) one, he will get tied down to the rope (dāvaṇa) to which all creations in the grip of life and death have been tied down, and will have to be revolving in the cycle of births and deaths. Keeping in mind these great difficulties and dangers and wishing to tell you how to escape from these, I made clear to you, in detail, both the path-ways of the Yoga. One leads to the Supreme, while the other entangles you in the cycle of births and deaths. What one will have, will depend upon the (kind of) path-way he would, by chance, find himself on.