Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 46

यावानर्थ उदपाने सर्वतः सम्प्लुतोदके । तावान्सर्वेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य विजानतः ॥

yāvān artha udapāne sarvataḥ samplutodake | tāvān sarveṣu vedeṣu brāhmaṇasya vijānataḥ ||

As a small well serves little purpose when there is a vast lake flooded on all sides, so do all the Vedas for one who knows the Supreme.

Krishna uses a vivid analogy: when you have access to a vast, overflowing lake (samplutodake), what use is a small well (udapāna)? The well served its purpose, but becomes irrelevant when unlimited water surrounds you. Similarly, the Vedas guide action and offer knowledge. But for one who truly knows (vijānataḥ)—who has realized the Supreme Reality—those scriptures become as limited as a well beside an ocean. They pointed the way, but the realized being has arrived. Direct realization surpasses scriptural knowledge the way an ocean surpasses a well.