The subject of the discourse.
श्रीभगवानुवाच—
परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम् ।
यज्ञात्वा मुनयः सर्वे परां सिद्धिमितो गताः ॥ १ ॥
śrībhagavānuvāca—
paraṃ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṃ jñānamuttamam .
yajñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṃ siddhimito gatāḥ .. 1 ..
The Blessed Lord said:
I shall again declare that sublime knowledge, the best of all knowledges; which having learnt, all the sages have passed to high perfection from here.
Read the commentary
Though declared more than once in the preceding discourses, I shall again declare that knowledge which is sublime as concerning itself with the Supreme Being, and which is the best of all knowledges as productive of the best result. ‘All knowledges’ does not refer to those which have been spoken of as knowledge in the verses xiii. 7-10 but to those kinds of knowledge which relate to sacrifices and other such things to be known. These (latter kinds of knowledge) do not lead to salvation, whereas the knowledge which is going to be imparted in this discourse does lead to salvation. So, the Lord praises this latter knowledge by the epithets ‘sublime’ and ‘best,’ in order to rouse interest in the minds of the hearers. And having learnt this knowledge, all the sages (munis)—the samnyasins, those who are devoted to contemplation (manana)—have passed from here—from this bondage of the body—to high perfection, known as moksha or liberation.
The Lord now proceeds to declare that this knowledge unfailing leads to perfection :