कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञानाः प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवताः।तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियताः स्वया॥
kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥtaṃ taṃ niyamam āsthāya prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā
Word by word
The verse says
Those whose understanding has been carried off by this desire or that turn to other gods, keeping this rule or that one, held by their own nature.
In plain words
The phrase to notice is the last one: prakṛtyā niyatāḥ svayā — held by their own nature.
That is not an accusation. It is an explanation.
People reach for whatever is nearest, and what is nearest was decided by how they were raised.
Where you've felt this · in study
In the week before exam results come out, people who have not prayed all year suddenly do. A friend who argues about religion at every dinner is quietly doing a small thing his mother taught him. There is nothing shameful in it. Fear makes you reach for what is closest to hand, and what is closest was settled long before the exam.
Going deeper
This begins four verses that have been read as generous and as condescending, and both readings are honestly available.
The generous one: Krishna does not call anyone a fool for worshipping elsewhere. He says their understanding has been carried off by wanting — the same wanting any of us bring — and that they are following their own nature, which is not a crime.
The condescending one: they are still described as diverted, and the next three verses call what they receive smaller. That is a ranking, however kindly it is phrased.
Both are in the text and it is better to say so. What is not in the text is any instruction to interfere with them, and that absence has held for a very long time. Whatever else this passage does, it gives nobody permission to correct anyone else's worship.