Chapter 4Verse 38 of 42

Bhagavad Gita 4.38

न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते । तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति ॥

na hi jñānena sadṛśaṃ pavitram iha vidyate | tat svayaṃ yoga-saṃsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati ||

Translation

Nothing equal to knowledge as a purifier is here. He who is perfected in yoga finds it in time, of his own accord, in himself.

Na hi jñānena sadṛśaṃ pavitram. Nothing equal to knowledge as purifier. The verse names knowledge's primacy without rhetoric. Kālena ātmani vindati, in time, he finds it in himself. The verse refuses the impatience of the seeker who wants the knowing now. Yoga-saṃsiddhaḥ, the one perfected by yoga, will find it. Time is part of the equipment. Aurobindo: the verse closes the door on the magical shortcut. The fire is real, and it needs the wood and the time.

Reflection

What knowing have you been demanding now that the practice was always going to give in its time?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four

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