jñānam

लोकेऽस्मिन्द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ

jñāna-yogena — through the path of knowledge

In this world there are two paths, as I have said before, sinless one: the path of knowledge, for those who reason; and the path of action, for those who act.

सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि

jñāna-vān — the wise

Even one who knows acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature. What can suppression do?

आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा

jñānam — knowledge

Knowledge is covered by this constant enemy of the wise, son of Kunti — desire, insatiable as fire.

इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते

jñānam — knowledge

The senses, the mind and the understanding are said to be its dwelling place. Through these it deludes the embodied one, clouding knowledge.

तस्मात्त्वमिन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ

jñāna — knowledge

Therefore master the senses first, best of the Bharatas, and then strike down this destroyer of knowledge and discernment.

वीतरागभयक्रोधा मन्मया मामुपाश्रिताः

jñāna — of knowledge

Free of attachment, fear and anger, filled with me and taking refuge in me, many have been purified by the fire of knowledge and have reached my own state.

यस्य सर्वे समारम्भाः कामसङ्कल्पवर्जिताः

jñāna — divine knowledge

One whose undertakings are all free of desire and calculation, whose actions have been burnt in the fire of knowledge — that one the wise call learned.

गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः

jñāna-avasthita — established in divine knowledge

For one free of attachment, released, mind established in knowledge, acting as an offering — action dissolves entirely.

सर्वाणीन्द्रियकर्माणि प्राणकर्माणि चापरे

jñāna-dīpite — kindled by knowledge

Others offer every function of the senses and of the breath into the fire of self-restraint, kindled by knowledge.

द्रव्ययज्ञास्तपोयज्ञा योगयज्ञास्तथापरे

jñāna-yajñāḥ — those offer cultivation of transcendental knowledge as sacrifice

Some offer their possessions; some their austerity; some their practice; and some, holding to their vows, offer their study and their knowledge.

श्रेयान्द्रव्यमयाद्यज्ञाज्ज्ञानयज्ञः परन्तप

jñāna-yajñaḥ — sacrifice performed in knowledge

The offering of knowledge is better than the offering of possessions, Arjuna. All action, without exception, finds its end in knowledge.

तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया

jñānam — knowledge

Learn it by bowing down, by asking, by serving. Those who know will teach you.

अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः

jñāna-plavena — by the boat of divine knowledge

Even if you were the very worst of all who do wrong, you would cross the whole of it on the boat of knowledge.

यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन

jñāna-agniḥ — the fire of knowledge

As a blazing fire turns firewood to ash, Arjuna, so the fire of knowledge turns all action to ash.

श्रद्धावाँल्लभते ज्ञानं तत्परः संयतेन्द्रियः

jñānam — divine knowledge

One who has faith, who is intent, whose senses are restrained, gains knowledge — and having gained it, comes quickly to the highest peace.

योगसंन्यस्तकर्माणं ज्ञानसंछिन्नसंशयम्

jñāna — by knowledge

One who has given up action through practice, whose doubts are cut away by knowledge, who is established in the self — actions do not bind that person.

तस्मादज्ञानसंभूतं हृत्स्थं ज्ञानासिनाऽऽत्मनः

jñāna — of knowledge

So with the sword of knowledge cut away this doubt, born of ignorance and lodged in the heart, and take your stand in yoga, Arjuna. Stand up.

नादत्ते कस्यचित्पापं न चैव सुकृतं विभुः

jñānam — knowledge

The all-pervading takes on no one's wrongdoing and no one's good deeds. Knowledge is covered by ignorance, and by that people are deluded.

ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं येषां नाशितमात्मनः

jñānena — by divine knowledge

But for those in whom that ignorance of the self has been destroyed by knowledge, knowledge lights up the highest as the sun lights up everything.

तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणाः

jñāna — by knowledge

With understanding turned there, self given there, established there, intent on that — they go where there is no returning, their faults washed away by knowledge.

ज्ञानविज्ञानतृप्तात्मा कूटस्थो विजितेन्द्रियः

jñāna — knowledge

Content in knowledge and in what has been realised, unmoved, senses conquered — such a one is said to be joined.

ज्ञानं तेऽहं सविज्ञानमिदं वक्ष्याम्यशेषतः

jñānam — knowledge

I will tell you this knowledge in full, together with what is realised through it, knowing which nothing further remains to be known here.

बहूनां जन्मनामन्ते ज्ञानवान्मां प्रपद्यते

jñāna-vān — one who is endowed with knowledge

After many births, one who knows comes to me, understanding that all this is Vasudeva. Such a soul is very rare.

इदं तु ते गुह्यतमं प्रवक्ष्याम्यनसूयवे

jñānam — knowledge

To you, who do not carp, I will declare this deepest secret — knowledge together with what is realised through it, knowing which you will be released from harm.

ज्ञानयज्ञेन चाप्यन्ये यजन्तो मामुपासते

jñāna-yajñena — yajña of cultivating knowledge

And others, offering the sacrifice of knowledge, worship me — some as one undivided, some as many.

बुद्धिर्ज्ञानमसंमोहः क्षमा सत्यं दमः शमः

jñānam — knowledge

Understanding, knowledge, clarity, patience, truthfulness, restraint of the senses, calm of mind, pleasure and pain, coming to be and ceasing to be, fear and fearlessness,

तेषामेवानुकम्पार्थमहमज्ञानजं तमः

jñāna — of knowledge

Out of compassion for them alone, I destroy the darkness born of ignorance with the light of knowledge, standing in their own being.

दण्डो दमयतामस्मि नीतिरस्मि जिगीषताम्

jñānam — wisdom

I am the rod of those who restrain, the strategy of those who seek to win. I am the silence of secret things, and the knowledge of those who know.

श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं विशिष्यते

jñānam — knowledge

Knowledge is better than mere practice; meditation is better than knowledge; giving up the fruit of action is better than meditation — and from that giving up comes peace at once.

प्रकृतिं पुरुषं चैव क्षेत्रं क्षेत्रज्ञमेव च

jñānam — knowledge

Nature and the person, the field and the knower of the field, knowledge and what is to be known — these I wish to understand, Krishna.

क्षेत्रज्ञं चापि मां विद्धि सर्वक्षेत्रेषु भारत

jñānam — understanding of

Know me also as the knower of the field in every field, Arjuna. Knowledge of the field and of its knower — that I hold to be knowledge.

अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्त्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम्

jñāna — knowledge

constancy in knowledge of the self, and looking toward what knowledge is for — all this is called knowledge; what is otherwise is ignorance.

ज्योतिषामपि तज्ज्योतिस्तमसः परमुच्यते

jñānam — knowledge

The light of lights, said to be beyond the dark; it is knowledge, what is to be known, and what knowledge reaches — seated in the heart of all.

इति क्षेत्रं तथा ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं चोक्तं समासतः

jñānam — the meaning of knowledge

So the field, and knowledge, and what is to be known, have been told in brief. My devotee, understanding this, comes to my own state.

क्षेत्रक्षेत्रज्ञयोरेवमन्तरं ज्ञानचक्षुषा

jñāna-chakṣhuṣhā — with the eyes of knowledge

Those who see with the eye of knowledge the difference between the field and its knower, and the freeing of beings from nature, reach the highest.

इदं ज्ञानमुपाश्रित्य मम साधर्म्यमागताः

jñānam — wisdom

Having taken refuge in this knowledge and come to be of my own nature, they are not born at the creation and not troubled at the dissolution.

तत्र सत्त्वं निर्मलत्वात्प्रकाशकमनामयम्

jñāna — knowledge

Of these, clarity, being spotless, illumines and is free of trouble. It binds by attachment to happiness and to knowledge.

सत्त्वं सुखे सञ्जयति रजः कर्मणि भारत

jñānam — wisdom

Clarity binds to happiness, restlessness to action, Arjuna. Inertia, covering over knowledge, binds to heedlessness.

सर्वद्वारेषु देहेऽस्मिन्प्रकाश उपजायते

jñānam — knowledge

When light appears at all the gates of this body, then know that clarity has grown strong.

सत्त्वात्सञ्जायते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च

jñānam — knowledge

From clarity arises knowledge; from restlessness, greed; from inertia, heedlessness, delusion and unknowing.

उत्क्रामन्तं स्थितं वापि भुञ्जानं वा गुणान्वितम्

jñāna-chakṣhuṣhaḥ — those who possess the eyes of knowledge

The deluded do not see him departing or dwelling or experiencing, joined to the strands. Those with the eye of knowledge see.

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो मत्तः स्मृतिर्ज्ञानमपोहनं च

jñānam — knowledge

And I am seated in the hearts of all. From me come memory and knowledge, and their loss. I am what is to be known through all the Vedas; I am the maker of their meaning, and the knower of them.

अभयं सत्त्वसंशुद्धिः ज्ञानयोगव्यवस्थितिः

jñāna — knowledge

Fearlessness, purity of being, steadiness in knowledge and practice, giving, restraint, offering, study, austerity, straightness;

ज्ञानं ज्ञेयं परिज्ञाता त्रिविधा कर्मचोदना

jñānam — knowledge

Knowledge, the object of knowledge and the knower are the three that prompt action; the instrument, the act and the doer are its three components.

ज्ञानं कर्म च कर्ता च त्रिधैव गुणभेदतः

jñānam — knowledge

Knowledge, action and the doer are each of three kinds, distinguished by the strands. Hear of them too.

सर्वभूतेषु येनैकं भावमव्ययमीक्षते

jñānam — knowledge

That knowledge by which one sees one imperishable nature in all beings, undivided in the divided, is of clarity.

पृथक्त्वेन तु यज्ज्ञानं नानाभावान्पृथग्विधान्

jñānam — knowledge

But the knowledge which, seeing separateness, takes the many natures of beings to be distinct in kind, is of restlessness.

शमो दमस्तपः शौचं क्षान्तिरार्जवमेव च

jñānam — knowledge

Calm, restraint, austerity, purity, patience, integrity, knowledge, insight and faith are the work born of the nature of the priestly.

सिद्धिं प्राप्तो यथा ब्रह्म तथाप्नोति निबोध मे

jñānasya — of knowledge

Hear from me briefly how one who has reached that perfection attains Brahman.

इति ते ज्ञानमाख्यातं गुह्याद्गुह्यतरं मया

jñānam — knowledge

So I have told you this knowledge, more secret than what is secret. Consider it fully, and then do as you choose.

अध्येष्यते च य इमं धर्म्यं संवादमावयोः

jñāna — of knowledge

And one who studies this dialogue of ours, which is holy, worships me by the offering of knowledge. This is my view.