Whatever utility -- of bathing, drinking, and the like -- is served by a well, a tank, and many other small reservoirs of water etc., all that utility is only as much as the utility which is served by an all-spreading flood of water; that is the former utility is comprehended in the latter. So also, whatever utility there is in all the Vedic ritual, all that is comprehended in the utility of the right knowledge possessed by a Brahmana who has renounced the world and has completely realised the truth concerning the Absolute Reality; this knowledge corresponding to the all-spreading flood of water. Wherefore, for a man who is qualified for works it is necessary to perform works (which stand in the place of wells and tanks) before he becomes fit for the path of knowledge.

Source: Alladi Mahadeva Sastri, The Bhagavad-Gita with the Commentary of Sri Shankaracharya (1897), public domain

Word bank

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• as much as / whatever
• use/purpose (is served)
• in a well (of water)
• on all sides / everywhere
• in a great reservoir of water (a flood)
• that much (is the use)
• in all
• in the Vedas
• for a Brahmin (knower of Brahman)
• who understands / has realized (the truth)