Bhagavad Gita Bhasya (Gambhirananada)

cannot be that pleasure is for pleasure's sake, or
that sorrow is for sorrow's sake. Moreover, all
empirical dealings are meant for culminating in the
realization of the Self. [According to B.S. 3.4.26, 'On
the strength of the Upanisadic sanction of sacrifices
etc. all religious activities as well are necessary...',
sacrifices etc. are meant for leading to the
realization of the Self, without which they would
become meaningless.] Therefore, just as for
knowing one's own body there is no need of any
other (external) means of knowledge so also there
is no need of any other means of knowledge, for
the realization of the Self which is innermost (in
relation to the body etc.). Hence it is established
that steadfastness in the knowledge of the Self is a
fact very well known to the discriminating people.
Even to those who hold that knowledge is formless
and not cognized by direct perception, cognition of
an object is dependent on knowledge. Hence it has
to be admitted that knowledge is as immediate as
pleasure etc. And this follows also from the
impossibility of a desire to know (knowledge). Had
knowledge been not self-evident, it could have
been sought for like any object of knowledge. And
in that case, as [This is Ast.'s reading; others read
tatha.-Tr.] a knower seeks to perceive through
knowledge such objects of knowledge as pot etc.,
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