TEXT 36
api ced asi pāpebhyaḥ
sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛt-tamaḥ
sarvaṁ jñāna-plavenaiva
vṛjinaṁ santariṣyasi
SYNONYMS
api—even; cet—if; asi—you are; pāpebhyaḥ—of sinners; sarvebhyaḥ—of all; pāpa-kṛt-tamaḥ—the greatest sinner; sarvam—all such sinful reactions; jñāna-plavena—by the boat of transcendental knowledge; eva—certainly; vṛjinam—the ocean of miseries; santariṣyasi—you will cross completely.
TRANSLATION
Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners, when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries.
PURPORT
Proper understanding of one’s constitutional position in relationship to Kṛṣṇa is so nice that it can at once lift one from the struggle for existence which goes on in the ocean of nescience. This material world is sometimes regarded as an ocean of nescience and sometimes as a blazing forest. In the ocean, however expert a swimmer one may be, the struggle for existence is very severe. If someone comes forward and lifts the struggling swimmer from the ocean, he is the greatest savior. Perfect knowledge, received from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the path of liberation. The boat of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is very simple, but at the same time the most sublime.
TEXT 37
yathaidhāṁsi samiddho ‘gnir
bhasma-sāt kurute ‘rjuna
jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi
bhasma-sāt kurute tathā
SYNONYMS
yathā—just as; edhāṁsi—firewood; samiddhaḥ—blazing; agniḥ—fire; bhasma-sāt—ashes; kurute—turns; arjuna—O Arjuna; jñāna-agniḥ—the fire of knowledge; sarva-karmāṇi—all reactions to material activities; bhasma-sāt—to ashes; kurute—it turns; tathā—similarly.
TRANSLATION
As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.
PURPORT
Perfect knowledge of self and Superself and of their relationship is compared herein to fire. This fire not only burns up all reactions to impious activities, but also all reactions to pious activities, turning them to ashes. There are many stages of reaction: reaction in the making, reaction fructifying, reaction already achieved, and reaction a priori. But knowledge of the constitutional position of the living entity burns everything to ashes. When one is in complete knowledge, all reactions, both a priori and a posteriori, are consumed. In the Vedas (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.22) it is stated, ubhe uhaivaiṣa ete taraty amṛtaḥ sādhv-asādhūnī: “One overcomes both the pious and impious reactions of work.”
