“Even if thou art the greatest sinner among all that are sinful, thou shalt yet cross over all transgressions by the raft of Knowledge”.... Knowledge destroys all sins. It is obtained by devotees who, “casting off attachment, perform actions for attaining purity of Self, with the body, the mind, the understanding, and even the senses, free from desire”. To such men “a sod, a stone, and gold are alike”.
Krishna, as Vishnu, is thus revealed: “I am the productive cause of the entire Universe and also its destroyer. There is nothing else that is higher than myself.... I am Om (the Trinity) in all the Vedas, the sound in space, the manliness in man. I am the fragrant odour in earth, the splendour in fire, the life in all creatures, and penance in ascetics.... I am the thing to be known, the means by which everything is cleansed.... I am the soul (self) seated in the heart of every being. I am the beginning, the middle, and the end of all beings.... I am the letter A (in the Sanskrit alphabet).... I am Death that seizeth all, and the source of all that is to be.... He that knoweth me as the Supreme Lord of the worlds, without birth and beginning ... is free from all sins.... He who doeth everything for me, who hath me for his supreme object, who is freed from attachment, who is without enmity towards all beings, even he cometh to me.... He through whom the world is not troubled, and who is not troubled by the world, who is free from joy, wrath, fear, and anxieties, even he is dear to me.”
To Arjuna Krishna says: “Exceedingly dear art thou to me. Therefore I will declare what is for thy benefit. Set thy heart on Me, become my devotee, sacrifice to me, bow down to me. Then shalt thou come to me.... Forsaking all (religious) duties, come to me as thy sole refuge. I will deliver thee from all sins. Do not grieve.”
It is, however, added: “This is not to be declared by thee to one who practiseth no austerities, to one who is not a devotee, to one who never waiteth on a preceptor, nor yet to one who calumniateth Me.”
Unbelievers are those who are devoid of knowledge. Krishna says: “One who hath no knowledge and no faith, whose mind is full of doubt, is lost.... Doers of evil, ignorant men, the worst of their species ... do not resort to Me.” ... Such men “return to the path of the world that is subject to destruction”. He denounces “persons of demoniac natures” because they are devoid of “purity, good conduct, and truth.... They say that the Universe is void of truth, of guiding principle and of ruler.... Depending on this view these men of lost souls, of little intelligence and fierce deeds, these enemies of the world, are born for the destruction of the Universe.” They “cherish boundless hopes, limited by death alone”, and “covet to obtain unfairly hoards of wealth for the gratification of their desires”; they say, “This foe hath been slain by me—I will slay others.... I am lord, I am the enjoyer.... I am rich and of noble birth—who else is there that is like me?... I will make gifts, I will be merry.... Thus deluded by ignorance, tossed about by numerous thoughts, enveloped in the meshes of delusion, attached to the enjoyment of objects of desire, they sink into foul hell.... Threefold is the way to hell, ruinous to the Self (Soul), namely, lust, wrath, likewise avarice.... Freed from these three gates of darkness, a man works out his own welfare, and then repairs to the highest goal.”[170]