Bhagavad Gita 4.37

yathaidhāṁsi samiddho ’gnir

bhasma-sāt kurute ’rjuna

jñānāgniḥ sarva-karmāṇi

bhasma-sāt kurute tathā

 

“As fire turns wood to ashes gray,

So wisdom burns all deeds away.

The fire of knowledge, potent and bright,

Consumes all karma, brings all to divine light.”

 

My dear Lord, within me, at my very core, is my soul. And in its pure state, my soul longs to be with you. It is this soul that you take across the ocean of illusion on the boat of knowledge.

But around this spiritual essence of mine is a vast accumulation of my past karma. These impurities impel me to desire a million things other than you.

My Lord, when you free me from these misleading conditionings, the wisdom you give acts like a fire, reducing them to ashes. Yet, because I identify with these conditionings, I feel as if I am being burned. 

Please, my Lord, when I feel burnt, let me not step out of the fire of wisdom, fearing that it will burn me. Let me stay within that fire, with the faith that it will burn away everything within me that is not truly me—everything that takes me away from myself and ultimately away from you.

During these difficult moments, I beg you, my Lord, to hold me firm in this fire of wisdom, especially when my own grip on myself weakens. This, my Lord, is the mercy I ask for—let the desires of the impure part within me be burned away so that the desire of the pure essence of me may spring forth, propelling me toward a blissful and everlasting loving union with you.

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04.37 As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.