SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
śreyān dravya-mayād yajñāj
jñāna-yajñaḥ paran-tapa
sarvaṁ karmākhilaṁ pārtha
jñāne parisamāpyate
‘The wisdom-element, Parantapa[2. ‘Harasser of foes,’ a nom de guerre of Arjuna.]! is superior in the yajñas, requiring a profusion of material[3. Dravya means any material required for an act, and therefore includes money.]. All complete act, Pārtha[4. Arjuna. Epithet of Arjuna, being a descendant of Pṛithu-Chakravarti.]! ultimately ends in wisdom[5. A confusion will arise here in the mind of the student, as to why karma was all the while extolled, and now jñāna is extolled. Are they separate, or the one in the other? These doubts will be cleared up in an Introduction.].’
Karma (all action) has two aspects, (the act as the unintelligent act itself, with materials, instruments etc., taken to perform it with, and the intelligence which is used in the act [this is the wisdom-aspect]).
That part of the act which is wisdom (or intelligence or motive or intent with which it is performed) is superior to the part which consists of an abundance of material (money etc).
All (sarvam) act, with its complete (akhilam) accessories, ends in wisdom (i.e., finds its meaning in wisdom; act in itself without the directing intelligence being dead and meaningless). Hence all work is performed that wisdom involved therein may be cultivated (or evolved);— wisdom being the end that is intended, by every means, to be reached. By constant endeavour, that itself (wisdom), is reached, and conducts one to the final stage.
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