Bhagavad Gita · 4.24 · Path of Knowledge and the Disciplines of Action·24 of 42
ब्रह्मार्पणं ब्रह्महविर्ब्रह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतम्।ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना ॥
brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma havir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā
hutam brahmaiva tena gantavyaṁ brahma-karma-samādhinā
Sanskrit recitation
Every act can be sacred · 4.24–4.33 · Teaching
Translation
Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the melted butter (ghee); by Brahman is the oblation poured into the fire of Brahman; Brahman indeed shall be attained by one who always sees Brahman in action.
Meaning
This is JnanaYajna or wisdomsacrifice wherein the idea of Brahman is substituted for the ideas of the instrument and other accessories of action, the idea of action itself and of its results. By entertaining such an idea the whole action melts away, as stated in the previous verse (No.23).When one attains to the knowledge of the Self or Selfrealisation his whole life becomes a wisdomsacrifice in which the oblation, the melted butter or the offering, the performer of the sacrifice, the action and the goal are all Brahman. He who meditates thus wholly upon Brahman shall verily attain to Brahman.The sage who has the knowledge of the Self knows that the oblation, the fire, the instrument by which the melted butter is poured into the fire and himself have no existence apart from that of Brahman. He who has realised through direct cognitio (Anubhava) that all is Brahman, does no action even if he performs actions. (Cf.III.15)
After Swami Sivananda
Every act can be sacred· 4.24–4.33→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
4.24Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the melted butter (ghee); by Brahman is the oblation poured into the fire of Brahman; Brahman indeed shall be attained by one who always sees Brahman in action.
- 4.25Some yogis perform sacrifice to the gods alone; while others, who have realized the Self, offer the Self as sacrifice in the fire of Brahman alone.
- 4.26Some again offer the organ of hearing and other senses as a sacrifice in the fire of restraint; others offer sound and other objects of the senses as a sacrifice in the fire of the senses.
- 4.27Others again sacrifice all the functions of the senses and those of the breath (vital energy, or Prana) in the fire of the Yoga of self-restraint, kindled by knowledge.
- 4.28Others again offer wealth, austerity, and Yoga as sacrifice, while ascetics of self-restraint and rigid vows offer the study of scriptures and knowledge as sacrifice.
- 4.29Others offer as sacrifice the outgoing breath into the incoming, and the incoming into the outgoing, restraining the flow of the outgoing and the incoming breaths, solely absorbed in the restraint of the breath.
- 4.30Others who regulate their diet offer life-breaths in each life-breath. All these are knowers of sacrifice, whose sins are destroyed through sacrifice.
- 4.31Those who eat the remnants of the sacrifice, which are like nectar, go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for the one who does not perform sacrifice; how then can they have the other, O Arjuna?
- 4.32Thus, manifold sacrifices are spread out before Brahman at the face of Brahman. Know them all to be born of action, and thus knowing, you shall be liberated.
- 4.33Superior is wisdom-sacrifice to the sacrifice with objects, O Parantapa (scorcher of the foes). All actions in their entirety, O Arjuna, culminate in knowledge.
Word-by-word→
- eva
- certainly
- tena
- by that
- agnau
- in the sacrificial fire
- hutam
- offered
- karma
- offering
- brahma
- Brahman
- haviḥ
- the oblation
- arpaṇam
- the ladle and other offerings
- gantavyam
- to be attained
- brahmaṇā
- by that person
- samādhinā
- those completely absorbed in God-consciousness
Related verses
- 2.16The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the real; the truth about both has been…
- 2.25This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing…
- 2.29One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of…
- 2.46To the Brahmana who has known the Self, all the Vedas are of as much use as a reservoir of…