अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः ।
सर्वं ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि ॥
यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन ।
ज्ञानाग्निः सर्वकर्माणि भस्मसात्कुरुते तथा ॥
Transliteration
api ced-asi pāpebhyaḥ sarvebhyaḥ pāpa-kṛtamaḥ |
sarvaṃ jñāna plavenaiva vṛjinaṃ santariṣyasi || 36 ||
yathaidhāṃsi samiddho’gnir-bhasmāt kurute’rjuna |
jñānāgniḥ sarva karmāṇi bhasmasāt kurute yathā || 37 ||
Translation
Even if among all the de-meritorious ones you are the worst, you will cross over the demerits by this raft of Wisdom. As the blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities.
Purport
From here till the end of the Chapter, the glory of true knowledge has been explained. In these two Shlokas, Bhagvan Shri Krishna explains that true knowledge is like an eternal boat, which can carry away even a sinner away from the miseries. It is possible a person has a lot of demerits or he might have performed many sins also. Though the law of karma is imminent and the person has to face the reaction of past karma, but if such a person with pure heart acquires the knowledge his karma starts purifying from the very moment. Over a period of time, he is completely purified.
In the next Shloka Bhagvan Shri Krishna compares the knowledge with the Agni(The fire). As Agni the best purifier, turns everything to ashes, the knowledge burns all bad reactions of karma to ashes and purifies the human.
