📿 Shloka Collection

Yajne Tapasi Dane Cha

Gita 17.27 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17 — Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga
यज्ञे तपसि दाने च स्थितिः सदिति चोच्यते ।
कर्म चैव तदर्थीयं सदित्येवाभिधीयते ॥
Yajne tapasi dane cha sthitih sad iti chochyate,
Karma chaiva tadarthiyam sad ity evabhidheeyate.
यज्ञे
in sacrifice
तपसि
in austerity
दाने
in charity
स्थितिः
steadfastness / perseverance
सत्
Sat (the good / the real)
इति
thus
उच्यते
is called
कर्म
action
तदर्थीयम्
done for the sake of That (Brahman)
अभिधीयते
is called

Krishna now ties "Sat" directly to spiritual practice. Steadfastness in sacrifice, austerity, and charity — the unwavering commitment to keep at it — is called Sat. And any action performed for the sake of Brahman is also called Sat.

Two things earn the name "Sat" here. First: staying the course. Not abandoning yajna when it gets inconvenient, not dropping austerity when it gets hard, not stopping charity when the mood passes. Persistence in good work is itself a form of truth. Second: dedicating the action to Brahman rather than to one's own benefit.

A lamp that burns steadily through the night, without flickering, without giving up — that steadiness is what "Sat" looks like in practice. It is the quiet constancy that turns an ordinary life into something meaningful.

Shlokas 17.26 and 17.27 together complete the explanation of "Sat." With this, the meanings of all three words — Om, Tat, and Sat — have been fully explained. The next and final shloka (17.28) serves as the chapter's conclusion, where Krishna warns about what happens when all of this is done without faith.

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