206
Śrimad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 7, Ch. 15]
TEXT 9
एके कर्ममयान् यज्ञान् ज्ञानिनो यज्ञवित्तमाः। आत्मसंयमनेऽनीहा जुह्वति ज्ञानदीपिते ॥ ९ ॥
eke karmamayān yajñān jñānino yajña-vittamāḥ ātma-saṁyamane 'nihā juhvati jñāna-dīpite
eke —some;  karma-mayān —resulting in a reaction (such as the killing of animals);  yajñān —sacrifices;  jñāninaḥ —persons advanced in knowledge;  yajña-vit-tamāḥ —who know perfectly well the purpose of sacrifice;  ātma-saṁyamane —by self-control;  anihāḥ —who are without material desires;  juhvati —execute sacrifice;  jñāna-dīpite —enlightened in perfect knowledge.
TRANSLATION
Because of an awakening of spiritual knowledge, those who are intelligent in regard to sacrifice, who are actually aware of religious principles and who are free from material desires, control the self in the fire of spiritual knowledge, or knowledge of the Absolute Truth. They may give up the process of ritualistic ceremonies.
PURPORT
People are generally very much interested in  karma-kāṇḍa  ritualistic ceremonies for elevation to the higher planetary systems, but when one awakens his spiritual knowledge, he becomes uninterested in such elevation and engages himself fully in  jñāna-yajña  to find the objective of life. The objective of life is to stop completely the miseries of birth and death and to return home, back to Godhead. When one cultivates knowledge for this purpose, he is considered to be on a higher platform than one who is engaged in  karma-yajña , or fruitive activities.
TEXT 10
द्रव्ययज्ञैर्यक्ष्यमाणं दृष्ट्वा भूतानि विभ्यति । एष माकरुणो हन्यादतज्ज्ञो ह्यसुत्प् ध्रुवम् ॥ १० ॥