श्रीभगवानुवाच:परं भूयः प्रवक्ष्यामि ज्ञानानां ज्ञानमुत्तमम् ।यज्ज्ञात्वा मुनयः सर्वे परां सिद्धिमितो गताः ॥
śrībhagavānuvāca:paraṃ bhūyaḥ pravakṣyāmi jñānānāṃ jñānamuttamamyajjñātvā munayaḥ sarve parāṃ siddhimito gatāḥ
The Blessed Lord said: I will again declare the supreme Knowledge, the highest of all knowings, which having known, all the sages have gone hence to the highest perfection.
Gītā 14·1Perfection cannot come without self-knowledge and God-knowledge and a spiritual attitude towards our natural existence, and that is why the ancient wisdom laid so much stress on salvation by knowledge,—not an intellectual cognizance of things, but a growing of man the mental being into a greater spiritual consciousness. The soul’s salvation cannot come without the soul’s perfection, without its growing into the divine nature; the impartial Godhead will not effect it for us by an act of caprice or an arbitrary sanad of his favour. Divine works are effective for salvation because they lead us towards this perfection and to a knowledge of self and nature and God by a growing unity with the inner Master of our existence. Divine love is effective because by it we grow into the likeness of the sole and supreme object of our adoration and call down the answering love of the Highest to flood us with the light of his knowledge and the uplifting power and purity of his eternal spirit. Therefore, says the Gita, this is the supreme knowledge and the highest of all knowings because it leads to the highest perfection and spiritual status, parāṁ siddhim, and brings the soul to likeness with the Divine, sādharmya.
