Bhagavad Gita · 4.36 · Path of Knowledge and the Disciplines of Action·36 of 42
अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः।सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि ॥
api ched asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ
pāpa-kṛit-tamaḥ sarvaṁ jñāna-plavenaiva vṛijinaṁ santariṣhyasi
Sanskrit recitation
Knowledge that cuts doubt · 4.34–4.42 · Teaching
Translation
Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet thou shalt surely cross over all sins by the raft of knowledge.
Meaning
You can cross the ocean of sin with the boat of the knowledge of the Self. (Cf.IX.30)
After Swami Sivananda
Knowledge that cuts doubt· 4.34–4.42→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 4.34Know that the wise who have realized the truth will instruct thee in that knowledge through long prostration, supplication, and service.
- 4.35Knowing that thou shalt not, O Arjuna, again be deluded like this; and by that thou shalt see all beings in thyself and also in me.
4.36Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet thou shalt surely cross over all sins by the raft of knowledge.
- 4.37As the blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge reduce all actions to ash.
- 4.38Verily, there is no purifier in this world like knowledge. He who is perfected in Yoga finds it within the Self in due time.
- 4.39The one who is full of faith, devoted to it, and has subdued their senses obtains this knowledge; and upon obtaining the knowledge, they attain the supreme peace immediately.
- 4.40The ignorant, the faithless, and the doubting self go to destruction; there is neither this world nor the other, nor happiness for the doubting one.
- 4.41He who has renounced actions through Yoga, whose doubts have been dispelled by knowledge, and who is self-possessed—such a one is not bound by actions, O Arjuna.
- 4.42Therefore, with the sword of knowledge (of the Self), cut asunder the doubt of the self, born of ignorance, residing in your heart, and take refuge in Yoga. Arise, O Arjuna!
Word-by-word→
- api
- even
- asi
- you are
- eva
- certainly
- chet
- if
- sarvam
- all
- vṛijinam
- sin
- pāpebhyaḥ
- sinners
- sarvebhyaḥ
- of all
- jñāna-plavena
- by the boat of divine knowledge
- santariṣhyasi
- you shall cross over
- pāpa-kṛit-tamaḥ
- most sinful
Related verses
- 1.45Alas! We are involved in a great sin, for we are prepared to kill our kinsmen, out of…
- 2.2The Blessed Lord said, "From whence has this perilous strait come upon you, this dejection…
- 2.29One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of…
- 2.46To the Brahmana who has known the Self, all the Vedas are of as much use as a reservoir of…