Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 10, Verse 11

तेषामेवानुकम्पार्थमहमज्ञानजं तमः । नाशयाम्यात्मभावस्थो ज्ञानदीपेन भास्वता

teṣāmevānukampārthamahamajñānajaṃ tamaḥ | nāśayāmyātmabhāvastho jñānadīpena bhāsvatā

Translation

Out of mere compassion for them, I, abiding in their self, destroy the darkness born of ignorance, by the luminous lamp of wisdom.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

teṣām

of them

eva

even

anukampārtham

of compassion, for the sake

aham

I

ajñānajam

from unwisdom, born

tamaḥ

darkness

nāśayāmi

(I) destroy

ātmabhāvasthaḥ

of the self, in the nature, seated

jñānadīpena

of wisdom, with the light

bhāsvatā

(with the) shining

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Out of mere compassion: out of mercy, anxious as to how they may attain bliss. I dwell in their antaḥ-karaṇa which is engaged in thinking exclusively of the Self and destroy the darkness of ignorance — that illusory knowledge which is caused by the absence of discrimination — by the lamp of wisdom, by the lamp of discriminatory knowledge, fed by the oil of pure Devotion (Bhakti-prasāda), fanned by the wind of earnest meditation on Me, furnished with the wick of right intuition purified by the cultivation of piety, chastity and other virtues, held in the antaḥ-karaṇa which is completely detached from all worldly concerns, placed in the wind-sheltered enclosure of the mind which is withdrawn from the sense-objects and untainted by attachment and aversion, and shining with the light of right knowledge generated by incessant practice of concentration and meditation.