Verse 4.36
अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः ।
सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि ॥
Transliteration
api cedasi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpakṛttamaḥ |
sarvaṃ jñānaplavenaiva vṛjinaṃ santariṣyasi ||
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3
Translation
Even if thou art the most sinful of all sinners, yet thou shalt verily cross all sins by the raft of knowledge.
From the owner's sheet · +1 more
Even if you were the worst of all sinners, you would cross over all wrongdoing by the raft of knowledge alone.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08 · +1 more
Word by word
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08
Explanation
Krishna offers a powerful assurance. Even someone who has done more wrong than all other wrongdoers can cross the whole sea of evil by the raft of knowledge (jñāna). The image of a boat crossing a river or ocean is common in Indian thought for liberation. The verse is meant to give hope: no past, however dark, places a person beyond the reach of transforming understanding. It may also answer Arjuna's fear of the sin of killing, by showing that knowledge has power greater than any burden of action.
By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08