Having thus glorified all teachers of the Geeta who carry the “Wisdom-of-the-sacred-discourse” to the masses, the Geeta, here, is glorifying even the students who are studying this Sacred text of the Lord’s Song. The great philosophy of life given out here as a conversation between Krishna — the Infinite, and Arjuna — the finite, has such a compelling charm about it, that even those who read it superficially will also be slowly dragged into the very sanctifying depths of it. Such an individual is, even unconsciously, egged on to make a pilgrimage to the greater possibilities within himself, and naturally, he comes to evolve through what Krishna terms here as “Jnaana Yajna.”

In a Yajna, Lord Fire is invoked in the sacrificial trough and into it are offered oblations by the devotees. From this analogy, the term Jnaana Yajna has been originally coined and used in the Geeta. Study of the Scriptures and regular contemplation upon their deep significances kindle the “Fire-of-Knowledge” in us and into this the intelligent seeker offers, as his oblation, his own false values and negative tendencies. This is the significance of the metaphorical phrase Jnaana Yajna. Therefore, here the Lord admits but a truth in the Spiritual science when He declares that those who study the Geeta — contemplate upon its meaning, understand it thoroughly — and those who can, at the altars of their well-kindled understanding, sacrifice their own ego-centric misconceptions about themselves, and about the world around them, are certainly the greatest devotees of the Infinite.

When a rusted key is heated in fire, the rust falls off and the key regains its original brightness. So too, our personality, when reacted with the knowledge of the Geeta, is chastened, since our wrong tendencies, unhealthy vasanas and false sense-of-ego which have risen from false-knowledge (Ajnaana), all get burnt up in Right-Knowledge (Jnaana).

AFTER THUS EXPLAINING THE GLORY OF THE TEACHER AND THE BENEFITS OF THE STUDY SO FAR, KRISHNA INDICATES IN THE FOLLOWING STANZA, THAT EVEN “LISTENING” TO THE GEETA DISCOURSES IS BENEFICIAL:

Ca, and; even he yah, who; adhyesyate, will study; imam, this; samvadam, conversation, the text in the form of a dialogue; between avayoh, us two; which is dharmyam, conducive to virtue, not divorced from virtue; tena, by him; this will be accomplished through that study; aham, I; syam, shall be; istah, adored; jnana-yajnena, through the Sacrifice in the form of Knowledge. Iti, this is me, My; matih, judgement. As compared with the various sacrifices, viz rituals, loud prayer, prayer uttered in a low voice and mental prayer, the Sacrifice in the from of Knowledge is the best [See 4.33.] because it is mental. Hence, the study of the scripture Gita is praised as that Sacrifice in the form of Knowledge. Or, this (verse) may merely be a judgement about the result. The idea is that the result of the study is comparable to the result of the Sacrifice in the form of the knowledge of gods and others. Now, this is the reward for the hearer: