Devanagari
एके कर्ममयान् यज्ञान् ज्ञानिनो यज्ञवित्तमा: ।
आत्मसंयमनेऽनीहा जुह्वति ज्ञानदीपिते ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
eke karmamayān yajṣān
jṣānino yajṣa-vittamāḥ
ātma-saṁyamane ’nīhā
juhvati jṣāna-dīpite
Synonyms
eke
—
some
;
karma
—
mayān — resulting in a reaction (such as the killing of animals)
;
yajṣān
—
sacrifices
;
jṣāninaḥ
—
persons advanced in knowledge
;
yajṣa
—
vit — tamāḥ — who know perfectly well the purpose of sacrifice
;
ātma
—
saṁyamane — by self-control
;
anīhāḥ
—
who are without material desires
;
juhvati
—
execute sacrifice
;
jṣāna
—
dīpite — enlightened in perfect knowledge .
Translation
Because of an awakening of spiritual knowledge, those who are intelligent in regard to sacrifice, who are actually aware of religious principles and who are free from material desires, control the self in the fire of spiritual knowledge, or knowledge of the Absolute Truth. They may give up the process of ritualistic ceremonies.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Some jṣānīs, having no material desires and knowing the truth about sacrifice, offer prescribed karmas into the fire of the controlled mind, illuminated by knowledge.
Those on the highest level reject external actions. Those who have no material desires (anīhāḥ) offer prescribed karmas (karma-mayān yajṣān) into the control of the mind, illuminated by knowledge. This means they give up performance of karmas.
Purport
People are generally very much interested in
karma-kāṇḍa
ritualistic ceremonies for elevation to the higher planetary systems, but when one awakens his spiritual knowledge, he becomes uninterested in such elevation and engages himself fully in
jṣāna-yajṣa
to find the objective of life. The objective of life is to stop completely the miseries of birth and death and to return home, back to Godhead. When one cultivates knowledge for this purpose, he is considered to be on a higher platform than one who is engaged in
karma-yajṣa,
or fruitive activities.