Shankaracharya's commentary, trans. Alladi Mahadeva Sastry (1897)
[1]There is indeed nothing equal to knowledge as purifier in this world. The man who is perfected in yoga finds it of himself in the Self in time.
BG 4.38
न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते । तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति ॥
na hi jñānena sadṛśaṃ pavitram iha vidyate | tat svayaṃ yoga-saṃsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati ||
"Nothing in this world purifies like jñāna. The karma-yogi finds it within themselves in time."
All public-domain translations
5 translations · all pre-1928 or released to public domain · sources
Swami Swarupananda, Srimad Bhagavad Gita (1909)
[4]Verily there is no purifier in this world equal to knowledge. He who is perfected in yoga finds it, in time, in himself.
William Quan Judge, The Bhagavad Gita (1890)
[6]There is no purifier in this world like wisdom; and one who is perfected in devotion finds it of himself in time in his own soul.
Sir Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885)
[7]Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never. Nay, but as when one layeth His worn-out robes away... (V38 specifically: No purifier equal to knowledge exists; the yoga-perfected find it in themselves in time.)
K.T. Telang, Sacred Books of the East Vol. 8 (1882)
[9]There is nothing in this world equal to knowledge for purifying. He who is perfected in yoga finds it of himself in time.