ज्ञानेन तु तदज्ञानं येषां नाशितमात्मनः | तेषामादित्यवज्ज्ञानं प्रकाशयति तत्परम् || १६ ||
jñānena tu tad ajñānaṃ yeṣāṃ nāśitam ātmanaḥ teṣām āditya-vaj jñānaṃ prakāśayati tat param
jñānena—by knowledge; tu—but; tat—that; ajñānam—ignorance; yeṣām—whose; nāśitam—is destroyed; ātmanaḥ—of the living entity; teṣām—their; āditya-vat—like the rising sun; jñānam—knowledge; prakāśayati—reveals; tat—that; param—the Supreme.
“But for those whose ignorance of the Self has been destroyed by knowledge, that knowledge, like the sun, illuminates the Supreme.”
Just as the sun does not need another light to reveal itself — it is self-luminous — so too the Self, once ignorance is removed, shines by its own light. Jnana (knowledge) here is not mere intellectual learning but the direct, experiential recognition of the Self's nature. When ignorance (avidya) is dissolved, the Self stands revealed, and with it, the nature of the Supreme is seen directly.
No new knowledge needs to be imported from outside. The sunlight of awareness is already present within you; it is only temporarily obscured by the clouds of conditioned thinking. Practices like meditation, self-inquiry, and satsang are not ways to gain something new — they are ways to remove the clouds.