Gita 04.37 – The fire of knowledge reduces karma to ashes

Pavita 4.37 Agni is fire. इधामसी is firewood, fuel.

Essentially, firewood is used for fueling the fire. It's one of the things, many things which can source fire. But here इधामसी समिधो.

Agni, समिधो is blazing, strong fire. बस्मसात कुरुते अर्जुन Just as a blazing fire can reduce to ashes. बस्मसात कुरुते अर्जुन Just as a blazing fire can reduce firewood to ashes.

Similarly, ज्यानागनि सर्वकर्माणि By the fire of knowledge, ज्यानागनि सर्वकर्माणि All karma, बस्मसात कुरुते तथ All karma will be burned by the fire of knowledge. Now, here the word karma refers to the reactions of karma. The point which Krishna is making is that don't worry that you will get some reactions.

No, the knowledge that you have, the knowledge of your spiritual identity, the knowledge of your spiritual purpose and this knowledge of a spiritual motivation for work will free you from the karmic culpability. The Brahma Samhita gives another example to illustrate this point. कर्माणि निर्दहति किन्तुच्य भक्ति भाजाम् That if you consider karma or various karmic activities to be like seed sowing activities.

The seeds eventually germinate. But if a seed is burned, is heated, roasted, then the seed loses its capacity to germinate. So like that, our karmic activities which we have done, their reactions won't come upon us.

If we act in a mood of selfless devotion, if we act in a mood of sacrifice, Krishna has used this metaphor of fire earlier in 4.19 यस्यसर्वे समारं भक्काम संकल्पवर्जितः ज्यानाग्नि सर्वकर्माण भस्मसाद कुर्ते तथा There also the word that was used is ज्यानाग्नि सर्वकर्माण ज्यानाग्नि सर्वकर्माण दग्द कर्माण Here is भस्मसाद कुर्ते So same point, there Krishna had just given one fourth of a verse to refer to this point of karma getting burnt and then that was the point was the person whose karma is burnt like this by the fire of knowledge that person is Pandita, that person is a learned person so the wise consider So Krishna was glorifying this person who burns away karma by through knowledge Now Krishna is telling Arjuna here how when you acquire knowledge then your karma can also be burnt So in 4.34 and prior to that in the section of yajna, various yajnas Krishna has said that you can acquire knowledge by doing, by working, by doing karma in a spirit of yajna and by learning how to do that karma how to do what karma and how to do that in the spirit of yajna that you can learn from a guru after doing this you will you will acquire knowledge that was mentioned in 4.33 So now he is telling that with this jnana what will happen in the previous verse it was stated that you will be able to cross over the ocean of misery so that was one way of glorifying the potency of that knowledge even if you are sinful still you will be able to cross over the ocean of misery in this verse it is stated that you will be able to burn all karmic reactions to ashes by the fire of knowledge Now in one sense these metaphors are opposite, water and fire is opposite but the point is water is something which is to be transcended and the main metaphor, the functional metaphor in the previous verses of boat so spiritual knowledge acts like a boat and it also acts like a fire so now we could say at one level these two metaphors are progressive with respect to material existence when one crosses the ocean the ocean remains, the person does not remain in the ocean with respect to karmic reactions which are like the seeds of karma in the heart the karmic seeds themselves get burned away reduced to ashes which are eventually cleansed away so in that sense the two are related the transportation or the elevation of the soul out of material existence happens by its purification within the heart so 36th verse talks about the elevation of the soul beyond material existence liberation of the soul and 37th verse talks about the soul's inner purification, inner cleansing and both are needed to the extent we are internally cleansed we can act externally in a way that promotes our liberation that takes us towards liberation that sort of actions which purify and liberate they become natural to us to the extent that we are pure and in this verse Krishna is emphasizing Arjuna do not worry even if while fighting the war if say fighting against your grandfather or against your martial teacher if you feel that you will get some bad karma still know that your karma will be burned by the fire of knowledge what is that knowledge? that knowledge of how you are spiritual and how you will be motivated by a spiritual purpose just as firewood is burned by fire just as fire burns firewood reducing it to ashes similarly the fire of knowledge will burn all your karma nor your karmic reactions will come back to entangle you bhasmasat kurte tatha so the word bhasma is used twice in the same verse 4.37b and d the point is ashes are a very graphic visual reminder of the ultimate futility or ultimate worthlessness of things in the vedic tradition say the antishti kriya is burning the body cremation that is also a kind of yajna where one offers oneself in that yajna one's body in that yajna by which one understands this existence is now ending and when we see the body burned and reduced to ashes then we really realize it runs home it's driven home very forcefully the body is temporary it's going to die it's going to be reduced to nothing from dust to dust from ashes to ashes as it's said in the bible so that is theoretically understood even when a person is buried in a coffin but it is much more visually it is visually perceived and very forcefully driven into the consciousness when there is a burning of the body so the word bhasmasat which is used over here underscores the point that you don't have to fear these karmic reactions they will become valueless just as ash becomes valueless similarly the karmic reactions karma which you may do bad karma that you may do or any karma that you may do it will bear no reactions if you are motivated by knowledge the inner knowledge within your heart will free you from any karmic culpability and in this way you will stay on the path to liberation marching straight ahead thank you.