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
ಜ್ಞಾನವೇ ಪರಬ್ರಹ್ಮ; ಜ್ಞಾನವೇ ಬಂಧನಕ್ಕೂ ಕಾರಣವೆಂದು ಹೇಳಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಈ ಸಮಸ್ತ ವಿಶ್ವ ಜ್ಞಾನಸ್ವರೂಪ; ಜ್ಞಾನಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಪರಮವಾದುದು ಇಲ್ಲ।
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
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.