Let wisdom burn away my impurities, not my intentions
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 [...]
Spiritual knowledge elevates us above misery – and eliminates misery too
The Bhagavad-gita uses two metaphors for illustrating the transformational potency of spiritual knowledge. Just as a sturdy boat helps us to cross over an ocean, the boat of spiritual knowledge helps us cross over the ocean of misery (04.36). And just as fire reduces the debris put in it to ashes, so does the fire of transcendental knowledge reduce the impurities within to ashes (04.37).