Verse 4.37

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 4.37:

यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर् भस्मसात् कुरुतेऽर्जुन ।
ज्ञानाग्निः सर्व-कर्माणि भस्मसात् कुरुते तथा ॥ ३७ ॥

yathaidhāṃsi samiddho'gnir bhasmasāt kurute'rjuna |
jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi bhasmasāt kurute tathā || 37 ||

yathā–as; edhāṃsi–firewood; samiddhaḥ–a blazing; agni–fire; bhasmasāt–to ashes; kurute–turns; arjuna–O Arjuna; jñāna-agniḥ–the fire of transcendental knowledge; sarva-karmāṇi–all reactions of fruitive work; bhasmasāt–to ashes; kurute–turns; tathā–similarly.

O Arjuna, just as a blazing fire burns firewood to ashes, in the same way, the fire of transcendental knowledge burns to ashes the reactions to all types of karma.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

When jñāna manifests in a pure mind, it burns up all reactions except prārabdha-karma, or those that are manifesting in this present body. This is explained with an example in this verse beginning with the word yathā.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Transcendental knowledge destroys the reactions of all sorts of karma such as obligatory duties (nitya-karma), occasional duties (naimittika-karma), fruitive action (kāmya-karma), sinful action (vikarma) and accumulated karma that has not yet fructified (aprārabdha-karma), but it does not destroy the karma that is fructifying in this present body (prārabdha-karma).

This has been verified in Vedānta-darśana:

tad-adhigama uttara-pūrvārghayor aśleṣa-vināśau tad-vyāpadeśat

Brahma-sūtra (4.1.13)

This means that even a jñānī has to face the results of his fructifying karma.

According to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, however, a person who has taken shelter of the holy name, even if his chanting is just a semblance of the pure name (nāmābhāsa), not only destroys the results of all his karma, such as the reactions that are accumulating but have not yet borne fruit (aprārabdha) and the sinful tendencies of the heart that have not yet been acted upon (kūṭa), but he also destroys his fructifying reactions (prārabdha-karma). What, then, is to be said about the effects of chanting the pure holy name?

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has written in Śrī Nāmāṣṭaka (Verse 4):

yad-brahma-sākṣāt-kṛti-niṣṭhayāpi vināśam āyāti vinā na bhogaiḥ

O Nāma Prabhu, Your appearance on the tongue of Your devotees burns up the results of their fructifying reactions (prārabdha-karma). This is otherwise unavoidable, even after brahma has been realized by performing unbroken meditation. This is declared adamantly and repeatedly in the Vedas.