Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 19

यस्य सर्वे समारम्भाः कामसङ्कल्पवर्जिताः । ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्माणं तमाहुः पण्डितं बुधाः

yasya sarve samārambhāḥ kāmasaṅkalpavarjitāḥ | jñānāgnidagdhakarmāṇaṃ tamāhuḥ paṇḍitaṃ budhāḥ

Translation

He whose engagements are all devoid of desires and purposes, and whose actions have been burnt by the fire of wisdom, him the wise call a sage.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

yasya

of whom

sarve

all

samārambhāḥ

beginnings

kāmasaṅkalpavarjitāḥ

by desire, and, by imaginations, and, untouched

jñānāgnidagdhakarmāṇam

of knowledge, by the fire, consumed, actions, whose, him

tam

him

āhuḥ

call

paṇḍitam

learned

budhāḥ

wise

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

The man who has realized the truth described above, whose works are all free from desires and from purposes (saṅkalpa) which cause those desires, who performs mere deeds without any immediate purpose — if he be engaged in worldly action, he does so with a view to set an example to the masses; if he has renounced worldly life, he performs deeds only for bodily maintenance — whose actions good and bad are consumed in the fire of wisdom which consists in the realization of inaction in action and vice versa: him the wise who know Brahman call a real sage (paṇḍita).