📿 Shloka Collection

Apare Niyataharah

Gita 4.30 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4 — Gyana Karma Sannyasa Yoga
अपरे नियताहाराः प्राणान्प्राणेषु जुह्वति ।
सर्वेऽप्येते यज्ञविदो यज्ञक्षपितकल्मषाः ॥
Apare niyataharah pranan praneshu juhvati
Sarve'pyete yajna-vido yajna-kshapita-kalmashah
अपरे
some others
नियताहाराः
who regulate their diet
प्राणान्
the life-breaths
प्राणेषु
into the life-breaths
जुह्वति
offer
सर्वे अपि
all these
एते
these
यज्ञविदः
knowers of yajna
यज्ञक्षपितकल्मषाः
whose sins are destroyed by yajna

The final entry in the catalogue: those who regulate what they eat, offering their life-energies into the life-force itself as a discipline. And then Krishna wraps up the entire list with a broad embrace — all these practitioners, regardless of which form they practice, are knowers of yajna. Through their yajna, their impurities are destroyed.

The inclusiveness here is striking. Krishna has listed devotional worship, knowledge-seeking, breath control, sense restraint, austerity, charity, study, and dietary discipline — and He calls every practitioner a yajna-knower. There is no single correct method. Sincerity and commitment are what count.

This shloka closes the yajna catalogue that began at 4.25. Across six shlokas, Krishna validated a wide range of spiritual practices under the single heading of yajna.

The next shloka (4.31) draws the conclusion: those who partake of the nectar left over from yajna reach the eternal Brahman, while those who perform no yajna at all cannot find happiness even in this world.

Chapter 4 · 30 / 42
Chapter 4 · 30 / 42 Next →