Bhagavad Gita BG 4.36
Chapter 4, Verse 36 — Meaning, Translation & Explanation
अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः । सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि ॥
api ced asi papebhya sarvebhyah papa-krttamah sarvam jnana-plavenaiva vrijinam santarishyasi
Meaning
Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners, you shall cross all wickedness by the boat of knowledge alone.
Understanding
The most compassionate promise: even if one is papa-krttama (the greatest of sinners), jnana-plava (the boat of knowledge) will carry one across vrijina (the ocean of wickedness/sin). Not a license for sin, but an affirmation that no past is so dark that knowledge cannot illuminate it. The image of the boat (plava) is striking — knowledge doesn't gradually improve one; it lifts one out of the entire ocean at once.
Word by Word
| Word | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| पापकृत्तमः | papa-krttamah | the greatest sinner, worst evil-doer |
| ज्ञानप्लव | jnana-plava | the boat of knowledge |
| वृजिनम् | vrijinam | wickedness, sin, the ocean of evil |
| सन्तरिष्यसि | santarishyasi | you shall cross over, you shall transcend |
| अपि | api | even / suppose (even if) |
| चेद् | ced | if / should (conditional) |
| असि | asi | you are |
| पापेभ्यः | pāpebhyaḥ | among the sinners / of sinners (ablative) |
| सर्वेभ्यः | sarvebhyaḥ | of all / among all |
| सर्वम् | sarvam | all (sins) |
| एव | eva | indeed / certainly (the raft carries all) |