Seek to know the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Enquire of him with submission, while serving him. The realised soul can reveal knowledge to you, for he has seen the truth.
And when you thus know the truth, you will understand that all beings are an integral part of Me, that they live in Me, and belong to Me.
Even if you are the vilest of fishermen, once you embark on the vessel of spiritual knowledge, you will cross the ocean of suffering. Like the blazing fire that converts wood into ashes, the inferno of knowledge reduces to ashes all the consequences of material actions.
There is nothing in this world as pure and sublime as absolute knowledge. The ripe fruit of all yogas (the practice of union and communion with God), he who possesses it finds joy in himself in due course. The man of faith, bathed in absolute knowledge and master of his senses, soon experiences the highest spiritual peace.
But the ignorant and the unbelieving, who doubt the sacred writings, cannot become God-conscious. For the doubter, there is no happiness in this life, in this world, or in the next.
He whose spiritual knowledge has uprooted his doubts, and who, having renounced the fruits of his deeds, has established himself firmly in the consciousness of his real self, he remains free from the chains of action. You must, armed with the sword of knowledge, cut away the doubts which ignorance has caused to sprout in your heart. With the weapon of yoga, rise up and fight.
The Path of Deepening the Spiritual Self
Prince Arjuna questions Lord Krishna again.
O Krishna, first You ask me to renounce acts, then to act, in the spirit of devotion. Tell me clearly, I pray Thee: which of these two ways is the better?
The Blessed Lord says:
Renunciation of acts and devotional act, both lead to liberation, but higher is the devotional act.
Know this, he who neither abhors nor covets the fruits of his deeds knows unchanging renunciation. Freed from duality, he easily unties the bonds that hold him to matter.
Only an ignoramus would claim that devotional action concludes differently from the study of material elements. The true scholars affirm that if one follows either path perfectly, one attains their common ends.