4.36 Even the very worst Krishna speaks
अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः
सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि
api ched asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛit-tamaḥ
sarvaṁ jñāna-plavenaiva vṛijinaṁ santariṣhyasi
Even if you were the very worst of all who do wrong, you would cross the whole of it on the boat of knowledge.
Explanation
Even if you were the very worst of all.
pāpa-kṛt-tamaḥ — the superlative, the most wrongdoing of anyone.
The verse takes the extreme case deliberately and says the boat still carries you. It is 9.30's promise arriving five chapters early, and with the same refusal to grade the passenger.
Going further
Word by word
- api
- even
- chet
- if
- asi
- you are
- pāpebhyaḥ
- sinners
- sarvebhyaḥ
- of all
- pāpa-kṛit-tamaḥ
- most sinful
- sarvam
- all
- jñāna-plavena
- by the boat of divine knowledge
- eva
- certainly
- vṛijinam
- sin
- santariṣhyasi
- you shall cross over
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Even if you were the very worst of all who do wrong — pāpa-kṛit-tamaḥ, the superlative, the most sinful of all.
The grammar is doing the work. Krishna could have said even a great sinner; he uses the form that admits of no worse case. It closes off the exit where you decide you are the exception, which is the exit shame always reaches for first.