Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 12, Verse 12

श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं विशिष्यते । ध्यानात्कर्मफलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनन्तरम्

śreyo hi jñānamabhyāsājjñānāddhyānaṃ viśiṣyate | dhyānātkarmaphalatyāgastyāgācchāntiranantaram

Translation

Better indeed is knowledge than practice; than knowledge is meditation more esteemed; than meditation the abandonment of the fruits of actions; on abandonment, Peace follows immediately.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

śreyaḥ

better

hi

indeed

jñānam

wisdom

abhyāsāt

than practice

jñānāt

than wisdom

dhyānam

meditation

viśiṣyate

excels

dhyānāt

than meditation

karmaphalatyāgaḥ

of action, of fruit, renunciation

tyāgāt

from renunciation

śāntiḥ

peace

anantaram

immediately

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Knowledge is better than practice accompanied with ignorance; better than that knowledge is meditation (dhyāna) with knowledge; better than meditation with knowledge is the abandonment of the fruits of actions. From such an abandonment of the fruits of actions, accompanied with the qualification mentioned above ("self-controlled"), cessation of saṃsāra and of the cause thereof follows immediately; it admits of no delay. Abandonment of the fruit of all action is taught as a means to Bliss in the case of an ignorant person engaged in action, only when he is unable to tread the paths taught before, but not at first. Wherefore the act of abandoning the fruit of all action is merely extolled here by the declaration of the superiority of one over another; for it has been taught as the course to be adopted when a man is unable to follow the paths already taught. In the case of the enlightened person who is steadily engaged in contemplation, Peace immediately follows the abandonment of desires. Now mere abandonment of desires constitutes a factor of even an ignorant man's abandonment of the fruits of actions; and because of this point of similarity, mere abandonment of the fruits of all actions is praised — with a view to create a desire to follow the course.