8.28 The final conclusion Krishna speaks
वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रदिष्टम्
अत्येति तत्सर्वमिदं विदित्वा योगी परं स्थानमुपैति चाद्यम्
vedeṣhu yajñeṣhu tapaḥsu chaiva
dāneṣhu yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣhṭam
atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā
yogī paraṁ sthānam upaiti chādyam
Whatever merit is promised by the study of the Vedas, by offerings, by austerities and by giving — one who practises knows all of it, and goes beyond, to the first and highest place.
Explanation
Realization outranks accumulation.
The verse lists everything the tradition counts as merit —
- study of the Vedas
- offerings
- austerities
- giving
— and says the one who practises knows all of it and goes past it. Not that the merit is worthless: that it is a smaller category than it looks. You can do every item on the list and remain inside the cycle these twenty verses have been describing. What carries you out is not more of the list.
Word by word
- vedeṣhu
- in the study of the Vedas
- yajñeṣhu
- in performance of sacrifices
- tapaḥsu
- in austerities
- cha
- and
- eva
- certainly
- dāneṣhu
- in giving charities
- yat
- which
- puṇya-phalam
- fruit of merit
- pradiṣhṭam
- is gained
- atyeti
- surpasses
- tat sarvam
- all
- idam
- this
- viditvā
- having known
- yogī
- a yogi
- param
- Supreme
- sthānam
- Abode
- upaiti
- achieves
- cha
- and
- ādyam
- original
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