Jewels From Upanishads: 1.7 Vidya And Avidya Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

They that pursue the path of avidya,
Enter the worlds of blinding darkness,
Even darker than that no less,
Should they pursue only vidya.
________________________________________________
Transliteration of the verse from Isha Upanishad with sandhi duly separated:

andham tamah pravishanti ye avidyām upāsate |
tatah bhūyah iva te tamah yah u vidyāyām ratāh ||Isha 9 ||

andham: blinding; tamah: darkness, ignorance; pravishanti: (they)enter; ye: those (who): avidyām:the path of karma, pursuit of happiness, karma for fruits and rewards, path of spiritual ignorance; upāsate: pursue, chase, follow; tatah bhūyah iva: greater as if than that; te tamah: that darkness; ye u vidyāyām: those who only but to non-karmic pursuits like meditation, higher or spiritual knowledge (exclusively): ratāh: (are)engaged in, busy with.
Even Bhagavad-Gita has dwelt at length on this subject. One is the Path of Karma, and the other of Knowledge and liberation. Here the verse uses the terms: vidyā and avidyā. One path alone to the total exclusion of the other would not work. If pursued, the man will not be able to do justice to either, and will stray from the path of evolution to get lost into births of lower and evil wombs. The next two verses stress on the same theme. Both the paths are for different goals, one should be very clear. And he, who is not, shall stray in his evolutionary journey. So, begin with the path of karma (avidyā) , and then, upon progressing, on achieving the goal thereof should one go whole hog with the path of pure knowledge (vidyā) . And so the Upanishad recommends: vidyām cha avidyām cha. Make this life meaningful, cross over well, by following the first path. Then pursue the higher path for birth-less liberation.

Topic: destiny, paths