कच्चिन्न लोकायतिकान्ब्राह्मणांस्तात सेवसे।
अनर्थकुशला ह्येते बालाः पण्डितमानिनः॥
kaccin na lokāyatikān brāhmaṇāṁs tāta sevase
anartha-kuśalā hy ete bālāḥ paṇḍita-māninaḥ
kaccit = I hope; na = do not; lokāyatikān = who have become lokāyatikas; brāhmaṇān = brāhmaṇas; tāta = dear child; sevase = You serve; anartha-kuśalāḥ hi = are expert in bringing about disasters; ete = for these; bālāḥ = immature people; paṇḍita-māninaḥ = who consider themselves scholars.
kaccit = I hope; na = do not; lokāyatikān = who have become lokāyatikas; brāhmaṇān = brāhmaṇas; tāta = dear child; sevase = You serve; anartha-kuśalāḥ hi = are expert in bringing about disasters; ete = for these; bālāḥ = immature people; paṇḍita-māninaḥ = who consider themselves scholars.
1 Regarding the second type of lokāyatikas, the commentator writes: yad vā lokāyata-śabdābhyāṁ pratyakṣānumānābhyāṁ cocyate lokyate sākṣāt-kriyate’neneti lokaḥ pratyakṣa-pramāṇam. ā samantād vyāpya dhumādi-samīpa-varti-vahny-ādir yatyate gṛhyate’neneti āyatam anumānaṁ tad eṣām astīti lokāyatikāḥ. “ata ini-ṭhanau” iti ṭhan-pratyayaḥ. The word lokāyatikān in the above verse can also be understood to be derived from the compound word loka-āyata with loka referring to direct sense perception and āyata referring to logical inference.
2 According to Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, there are three sources of valid knowledge: sense perception, logical inference and reliable testimony. They are technically referred to as pratyakṣa, anumāna and śabda respectively. See Śrīla Baladeva’s Prameya-ratnāvalī and Śrī Rādhā Dāmodara’s Vedānta-syamantaka. The nature of the three sources of valid knowledge has been rigorously analyzed by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his Tattva-sandarbha Sarva-saṁvādinī and interested readers can peruse these to properly understand this topic. The philosophies of Cārvākas, Buddhists and others opposed to Vaiṣṇava-siddhānta have been refuted in the second chapter of Vedānta-sūtra and its commentaries by the Vaiṣṇava-ācāryas.
Lokāyatikas are those who only accept sense perception as a source of valid knowledge or those who only accept sense perception and logical inference as sources of valid knowledge.1 An instance of logical inference is the inference of the existence of fire from the existence of smoke in its vicinity [without directly perceiving the fire]. [As such, the lokāyatikas] refer to those who don’t accept Vedic authority such as the Cārvākas and Buddhists.2
They consider themselves to be learned scholars but factually they do not understand the truth correctly. Indeed, due to their difficulty in understanding [Vedic teachings], they become expert in losing faith in the performances of Vedic dharma. Consequently [they become expert] in becoming rejected by the saintly and then [they become expert] in falling down to hell and so on.
They are immature, that is, endowed with [that form of] ignorance [that is] an obstacle to attainment of tattva-jñāna, knowledge of the Absolute Truth.
How they don’t understand the truth correctly is established in the next verse.