वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रदिष्टम् | अत्येति तत्सर्वमिदं विदित्वा योगी परं स्थानमुपैति चाद्यम् || २८ ||
vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva dāneṣu yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣṭam atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā yogī paraṁ sthānam upaiti cādyam
vedeṣu—in the Vedas; yajñeṣu—in sacrifices; tapaḥsu—in austerities; ca—and; eva—certainly; dāneṣu—in charities; yat—whatever; puṇya-phalam—result of pious activity; pradiṣṭam—indicated; atyeti—surpasses; tat—that; sarvam—all; idam—this; viditvā—knowing; yogī—the yogi; param—supreme; sthānam—state/abode; upaiti—attains; ca—and; ādyam—the original, primeval.
“Having known all this, the yogi surpasses all the meritorious fruits declared for the study of the Vedas, sacrifice, austerity, and charity, and attains the Supreme, Primeval State.”
Chapter 8 concludes with a powerful summary: the knowledge and practice described in this chapter carries the practitioner beyond all the accumulated merit of Vedic study, ritual, austerity, and charity. Not because these are unimportant, but because the direct realisation of Brahman includes and transcends all the goods that any meritorious act could produce.
All the good deeds of a lifetime—every prayer, every act of generosity, every moment of discipline—are not the destination but the preparation. They purify the inner instrument. The ultimate fruit—'param sthānam ādyam' (the supreme primeval state)—awaits when that purified instrument becomes transparent to its own source.