Bhagavad Gita · Dhyana Yoga (Atma-samyama Yoga)Chapter 6, Shloka 46 (6.46)
Original Sanskrit · श्रीभगवान्
तपस्विभ्योऽधिको योगी ज्ञानिभ्योऽपि मतोऽधिकः
कर्मिभ्यश्चाधिको योगी तस्माद् योगी भवार्जुन
॥ 6.46 ॥
tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogī jñānibhyo'pi mato'dhikaḥ
karmibhyaścādhiko yogī tasmād yogī bhavārjuna
Translation
"The yogi is greater than the ascetics, is considered greater even than the learned (knowers of scripture), and is greater than the ritualists too; therefore, O Arjuna, be a yogi."
Interpretation
Who is the "learned"? Here "jñānī" does not mean the supreme knower of the self — both acharyas take it in a limited sense.
Shankaracharya. Jñānibhyo'pi jñānam atra śāstrārtha-pāṇḍityam — here knowledge = scholarship in the meaning of the scriptures; karmibhyaḥ agnihotrādi karma tadvadbhyaḥ — than those who perform rites like the agnihotra; tasmāt yogī bhava.
Acharya Ramanuja. Kevala-tapobhiḥ … ātma-jñāna-vyatiriktaiḥ jñānaiḥ ca … kevalaiḥ aśvamedhādibhiḥ karmabhiḥ — the human goal attained through austerity alone, through knowledge other than knowledge of the self, and through rites like the ashvamedha alone — tebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ adhika-puruṣārtha-sādhanatvād yogasya — yoga yields a greater human goal than all of these. Then an important structural sentence: tad evaṃ para-vidyāṅga-bhūtaṃ prajāpati-vākyoditaṃ pratyag-ātma-darśanam uktam, atha para-vidyāṃ prastauti — thus the vision of the inner self (of the individual self), which is a limb of the higher knowledge, has been taught; now the higher knowledge (knowledge of the Lord) begins.
Ramanuja's structure of the Gita: Chapters 1–6 = vision of the self (karma yoga / jnana yoga), chapters 7–12 = the higher knowledge (bhakti). 6.47 is the first step across this bridge.
AI-assisted draft translation — under review.