Shloka 50
नरक-निर्णयः, पाप-कर्म-फल-व्यवस्था, प्रायश्चित्त-क्रमः, तथा हरि-स्मरण-परमत्वम्
ज्ञानम् एव परं ब्रह्म ज्ञानं बन्धाय चेष्यते ज्ञानात्मकम् इदं विश्वं न ज्ञानाद् विद्यते परम्
jñānam eva paraṃ brahma jñānaṃ bandhāya ceṣyate jñānātmakam idaṃ viśvaṃ na jñānād vidyate param
Knowledge alone is the Supreme Brahman; and it is knowledge, too, that is held to be the cause of bondage. This entire universe is of the nature of knowledge, and beyond knowledge nothing higher is found.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Concept: Brahman is of the nature of jñāna, and jñāna itself—misdirected or conditioned—can be the basis of bondage; the universe is pervaded by/known through jñāna, beyond which nothing higher is posited.
Vedantic Theme: Brahman
Application: Cultivate discriminative knowledge aligned with devotion—study, contemplation, and ethical living—so cognition becomes liberating rather than binding.
Vishishtadvaita: Can be read as: all knowing and all that is known subsist in the Supreme; jñāna as the jīva’s essential attribute becomes bound when contracted by karma, and liberated when expanded by the Lord’s grace—supporting a real world sustained by Nārāyaṇa (jagat-kāraṇa).
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
Bhakti Type: Shanta
Jagat Karana: Yes
FAQs
It identifies knowledge as the highest principle (paraṃ brahma) while also warning that misdirected or ego-bound cognition can itself become the mechanism of bondage.
Parāśara frames bondage and release around the quality of knowing: when knowledge is distorted by identification and attachment it binds, but when it reveals the Supreme Reality it leads beyond all limitation.
The verse uses Brahman-language to point to the Supreme Reality; within Vaishnava reading, that Supreme is ultimately Vishnu, known truly through liberating knowledge rather than merely conceptual thought.