Chapter 12 verse 12
“Knowledge is indeed better than religious practice; meditation is better than knowledge; renunciation of the fruits of action is better than meditation; peace happens immediately follows renunciation”
There are 2 major parts of our Vedas- karma khanda and jnana khanda. Karma khanda instructs on how to perform rituals, fire sacrifices etc and Jnana khanda illustrates how to purify body, mind and intellect to realize your immutable soul or Brahman. A container with filthy water first needs to be emptied out and cleaned before fresh water can be filled in that. Likewise all of us start with mundane rituals of life but that engages our body, mind and intellect into non evil activity. Once the path is clear for receiving spiritual knowledge and our body-mind-intellect complex is ready for that knowledge, then that bookish knowledge is obtained. Once that knowledge is obtained which I don’t call jnana but pragnyapanam (information) since the knowledge of Brahman is not experiential. The way to convert that “information” into “experiential knowledge” is to go inward and control the mind through mindful meditation. Once after rigorous meditation is done to control the mind of current and previous vasanas and hence unwanted emotions/feelings, it is time to rid the intellect of thoughts or not dwell on those thoughts. Then we reach a stage where action is done without desire for particular results and that state of renunciation of desires or dedication of all action to the divine ultimately leads to eternal bliss, peace and state of Brahman.
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