🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 3.13
Chapter 3 · कर्मयोग · Karma-Yoga · "The Yoga of Action" · Verse 13 of 43
🪷 English Translations
Five authentic English voices · each from a distinct sampradāya · together revealing the verse's full śabda-tattva.
Shri Purohit Swami · Poetic English · 1935 · public domain · Cosmo Press tradition
3.13 The sages who enjoy the food that remains after the sacrifice is made are freed from all sin; but the selfish who spread their feast only for themselves feed on sin only.
Swami Sivananda · Direct prose · Divine Life Society
3.13 The righteous who eat the remnants of the sacrifice are freed from all sins; but those sinful ones who cook food (only) for their own sake verily eat sin.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Word-key glosses · Advaita Ashrama · Śaṅkara-school
3.13 Those again, who are yajna-sista-asinah, partakers of the remnants of sacrifices, who, after making offering to the gods and others, [The panca-maha-yajnas, five great offerings, which have to be made by every householder are offerings to gods, manes, humans, creatures and rsis (sages).] are habituated to eat the remnants (of those offerings), called nectar; they, santah, by being (so); mucyante, become freed; sarva-kilbisaih, from all sins-from those sins incurred through the five things [the five things are; oven, water-pot, cutting instruments, grinding machines and broom. A householder incurs sin by killing insects etc. with these things, knowingly or unknowingly. It is atoned by making the aforesaid five offerings.], viz oven etc., and also from those others incurred owing to injury etc. caused inadvertently. Tu, but; the papah, unholy persons, who are selfish; ye, who; pacanti, cook; atma-karanat, for themselves; te, they, being themselves sinful; bhunjate, incur; agham, sin.
For the following reasons also actions should be undertaken by an eligible person. Action is definitely the cause of the movement of the wheel of the world. How? This is being answered:
Swami Ādidevānanda · Śrī-Vaiṣṇava perspective · Rāmānuja school
3.13 Those persons who acire food materials solely for propitiating the Supreme Person abiding as the Self of Indra and other deities, and who, after cooking them, propitiate, through them, the Supreme Person as He is, and then sustain themselves on the remnants of oblations (made for such propitiation), they alone will be free of impurities which have resulted from beginningless evil and which are inimical to the vision of the self. But they are evil-minded, who acire for selfish use the things which the Supreme Being, abiding as the Self of Indra and other deities, has granted them for worshipping Him with, and use it all on the other hand for feeding themselves - they eat only sin. Turning away from the vision of the self, they cook only for being led to Naraka (for the expiation of the sin incurred thery).
Sri Krsna says that, from the standpoint of the world as well as that of the scriptures, everything has its origin in sacrifice; and He speaks of the need for the performance of the sacrifices and of the blemish in not performing the same:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Academic precision · modern scholarly
3.13. The righteous persons, who eat the remnants (objects enjoined) of the actions to be performed necessarily, are freed from all sins. But those who cook, intending their own selves, are sinners and eat sin.
🪷 Hindi Translation · हिन्दी अनुवाद
For the Hindi-aware seer · Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's translation · a high-readability modern Hindi rendering · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur tradition. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page for the 102-year-living Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī Mahātmā.)
🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī tradition · Gītā-Press Gorakhpur · highest modern Hindi reading
।।3.13।। यज्ञशेष- (योग-) का अनुभव करनेवाले श्रेष्ठ मनुष्य सम्पूर्ण पापोंसे मुक्त हो जाते हैं। परन्तु जो केवल अपने लिये ही पकाते अर्थात् सब कर्म करते हैं, वे पापीलोग तो पापका ही भक्षण करते हैं।
🪷 English Commentaries · The Ācārya Voices
The classical commentary tradition rendered in English · each ācārya speaks from their own sampradāya · the seer chooses the depth of darśana.
Swami Sivananda · Verse-by-verse word-keys with Sanskrit anchors
3.13 यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः who eat the remnants of the sacrifice? सन्तः the righteous? मुच्यन्ते are freed? सर्वकिल्बिषैः from all sins? भुञ्जते eat? ते those? तु indeed? अघम् sin? पापाः sinful ones? ये who? पचन्ति cook? आत्मकारणात् for their own sake.Commentary Those who? after performing the five great sacrifices? eat the remnants of the food are freed from all the sins committed by these five agents of insect slaughter? viz.? (1) the pestle and mortar? (2) the grinding stone? (3) the fireplace? (4) the place where the waterpot is kept? and (5) the broom. These are the five places where injury to life is daily committed. The sins are washed away by the performance of the five MahaYajnas or great sacrifices which every Dvija(twicorn or the people belonging to the first three castes in Hindu society? especially the Brahmin) ought to perform1. DevaYajna Offering sacrifices to the gods which will satisfy them?2. BrahmaYajna or RishiYajna Teaching and reciting the scriptures which will satisfy Brahman and the Rishis?3. PitriYajna Offering libations of water to ones ancestors which will satisfy the manes?4. NriYajna The feeding of the hungry and the guests? and?5. BhutaYajna The feeding of the subhuman species? such as animals? birds? etc.
Swami Gambīrānanda · Advaita-school commentary (Śaṅkara tradition)
3.13 Those again, who are yajna-sista-asinah, partakers of the remnants of sacrifices, who, after making offering to the gods and others, [The panca-maha-yajnas, five great offerings, which have to be made by every householder are offerings to gods, manes, humans, creatures and rsis (sages).] are habituated to eat the remnants (of those offerings), called nectar; they, santah, by being (so); mucyante, become freed; sarva-kilbisaih, from all sins-from those sins incurred through the five things [the five things are; oven, water-pot, cutting instruments, grinding machines and broom. A householder incurs sin by killing insects etc. with these things, knowingly or unknowingly. It is atoned by making the aforesaid five offerings.], viz oven etc., and also from those others incurred owing to injury etc. caused inadvertently. Tu, but; the papah, unholy persons, who are selfish; ye, who; pacanti, cook; atma-karanat, for themselves; te, they, being themselves sinful; bhunjate, incur; agham, sin.
For the following reasons also actions should be undertaken by an eligible person. Action is definitely the cause of the movement of the wheel of the world. How? This is being answered:
Swami Ādidevānanda · Rāmānuja Śrī-Vaiṣṇava commentary
3.13 Those persons who acire food materials solely for propitiating the Supreme Person abiding as the Self of Indra and other deities, and who, after cooking them, propitiate, through them, the Supreme Person as He is, and then sustain themselves on the remnants of oblations (made for such propitiation), they alone will be free of impurities which have resulted from beginningless evil and which are inimical to the vision of the self. But they are evil-minded, who acire for selfish use the things which the Supreme Being, abiding as the Self of Indra and other deities, has granted them for worshipping Him with, and use it all on the other hand for feeding themselves - they eat only sin. Turning away from the vision of the self, they cook only for being led to Naraka (for the expiation of the sin incurred thery).
Sri Krsna says that, from the standpoint of the world as well as that of the scriptures, everything has its origin in sacrifice; and He speaks of the need for the performance of the sacrifices and of the blemish in not performing the same:
Dr. S. Sankaranarayan · Modern academic scholarship
3.13 Yajnasista-etc. Those who enjoy the pleasures of obects that have come to them on the authority of laws enjoining what is to be necessarily performed; and who enjoy them viewing [the enjoyment] only as a secondary (or intermediate) action and conseently as a subsidiary having no separate purpose; and again those who enjoy the remnant of the necessary action in the form of gratifying the group of the devas of the snese-organs-that residue of food marked with bliss in being firmly established in their own Self - that is to say, those who have mounted upon the Self and are desirous of enjoying objects only as a means to achieve this end - they are freed from all faults of good and bad. Those, who for their own selves etc. : On the other hand, those who believe, under the influence of ignorance, the sheer superficial enjoyment of objects as their final goal, and act with the notion 'We perform this [act] for the sake of ourselves' - those persons alone gain the sin in the form of good and bad.
Swami Chinmayānanda · Chinmaya Mission · modern Vedantic teaching
।।3.13।। उत्पादन किये बिना समाज के धन पर जीने वाले अपराधी व्यक्तियों स सर्वथा भिन्न लोगों के विषय में इस श्लोक में वर्णन है। श्रेष्ठ पुरुष यज्ञ भावना से कर्म करने के पश्चात् प्राप्त फल में अपने भाग को ही ग्रहण करते हैं और इस प्रकार सब पापों से मुक्त हो जाते हैं।पूर्व काल में किये गये पाप वर्तमान में पीड़ा के कारण हैं तो वर्तमान के पाप भविष्य में दुखों के कारण बनेंगे। अत समाज में दुखों को समाप्त करने का एक मात्र उपाय है समाज के जागरूक पुरुषों का यज्ञभावना से सामूहिक कर्म करके अवशिष्ट फल को ग्रहण कर सन्तुष्ट रहना।इसके विपरीत जो केवल अपने लिये ही पकाते हैं वे पाप को ही खाते हैं। इस श्लोक से प्रतीत होता है कि श्रीकृष्ण वैयक्तिक सम्पत्ति के सर्वथा विरुद्ध हैं परन्तु एक साम्यवादी व्यक्ति के अर्थ में नहीं। समाज के धन को अपना ही समझ कर उसके परिग्रह के सिद्धांत का भगवान् विरोध करते हैं। जो मनुष्य धन के लोभ से केवल अपने भोग के लिए समाज के दरिद्र और अभागे लोगों के कष्ट की ओर ध्यान दिये बिना धन संग्रह करता है उसे ही यहाँ पाप को खाने वाला कहा गया है।निम्नलिखित कारणों से भी मनुष्य को कर्म करने चाहिये क्योंकि कर्म से ही विश्वचक्र चलता है। कैसे इसका उत्तर है
🪷 Hindi Vyākhyā · हिन्दी व्याख्या
Pūjya Swami Rāmsukhdās ji's Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · one of the great modern Hindi vyākhyās of the Gītā · direct, pure, deeply Vedāntic · the modern Sanātana-jāgaraṇa. (→ Full Mahāpurusha-detail page · 1904-2005 · Corner 1 Mādhurya operational anchor · whose 6-lakṣaṇa-śaraṇāgati IS Constitutional Principle 24.)
🪷 Swami Rāmsukhdās · Sādhaka-Sañjīvanī · Hindi vyākhyā · the modern bilingual anchor
3.13।। व्याख्या--'यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तः'--कर्तव्यकर्मोंका निष्कामभावसे विधिपूर्वक पालन करनेपर (यज्ञशेषके रूपमें) योग अथवा समता ही शेष रहती है। कर्मयोगमें यह खास बात है कि संसारसे प्राप्त सामग्रीके द्वारा ही कर्म होता है। अतः संसारकी सेवामें लगा देनेपर ही वह कर्म 'यज्ञ' सिद्ध होता है। यज्ञकी सिद्धिके बाद स्वतः अवशिष्ट रहनेवाला 'योग' अपने लिये होता है। यह योग (समता) ही यज्ञशेष है, जिसको भगवान्ने चौथे अध्यायमें 'अमृत' कहा है 'यज्ञशिष्टामृतभुजः' (4। 31)।
'मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः'-- यहाँ 'किल्बिषैः' पद बहुवचनान्त है, जिसका अर्थ है--सम्पूर्ण पापोंसे अर्थात् बन्धनोंसे। परन्तु भगवान्ने इस पदके साथ 'सर्व' पद भी दिया है ,जिसका विशेष तात्पर्य यह हो जाता है कि यज्ञशेषका अनुभव करनेपर मनुष्यमें किसी भी प्रकारका बन्धन नहीं रहता। उसके सम्पूर्ण (सञ्चित, प्रारब्ध और क्रियमाण) कर्म विलीन हो जाते हैं (टिप्पणी प0 135) (गीता 4। 23)। सम्पूर्ण कर्मोंके विलीन हो जानेपर उसे सनातन ब्रह्मकी प्राप्ति हो जाती है (गीता 4। 31)।
इसी अध्यायके नवें श्लोकमें भगवान्ने यज्ञार्थ कर्मसे अन्यत्र कर्मको बन्धनकारक बताया और चौथे अध्यायके तेईसवें श्लोकमें यज्ञार्थ कर्म करनेवाले मनुष्यके सम्पूर्ण कर्म विलीन होनेकी बात कही। इन दोनों श्लोकों (3। 9 तथा 4। 23) में जो बात आयी है, वही बात यहाँ 'सर्वकिल्बिषैः' पदसे कही गयी है। तात्पर्य है कि यज्ञशेषका अनुभव करनेवाले मनुष्य सम्पूर्ण बन्धनरूप कर्मोंसे मुक्त हो जाते हैं। पाप-कर्म तो बन्धनकारक होते ही हैं, सकामभावसे किये गये पुण्यकर्म भी (फलजनक होनेसे) बन्धनकारक होते हैं। यज्ञशेष-(समता-) का अनुभव करनेपर पाप और पुण्य--दोनों ही नहीं रहते--'बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते' (गीता 2। 50)।
अब विचार करें कि बन्धनका वास्तविक कारण क्या है? ऐसा होना चाहिये और ऐसा नहीं होना चाहिये--इस कामनासे ही बन्धन होता है। यह कामना सम्पूर्ण पापोंकी जड़ है (गीता 3। 37)। अतः कामनाका त्याग करना अत्यन्त आवश्यक है।वास्तवमें कामनाकी कोई स्वतन्त्र सत्ता नहीं है। कामना अभावसे उत्पन्न होती है और 'स्वयं' (सत्स्वरूप) में किसी प्रकारका अभाव है ही नहीं और हो सकता भी नहीं। इसलिये 'स्वयं' में कामना है ही नहीं। केवल भूलसे शरीरादि असत् पदार्थोंके साथ अपनी एकता मानकर मनुष्य असत् पदार्थोंके अभावसे अपनेमें अभाव मानने लगता है और उस अभावकी पूर्तिके लिये असत् पदार्थोंकी कामना करने लगता है। साधकको इस बातकी तरफ खयाल करना चाहिये कि आरम्भ और समाप्त होनेवाली क्रियाओंसे उत्पन्न और नष्ट होनेवाले पदार्थ ही तो मिलेंगे। ऐसे उत्पत्ति-विनाशशील पदार्थोंसे मनुष्यके अभावकी पूर्ति कभी हो ही नहीं सकती। जब इन पदार्थोंसे अभावकी पूर्ति होनेका प्रश्न ही नहीं है, तो फिर इन पदार्थोंकी कामना करना भी भूल ही है। ऐसा ठीक-ठीक विचार करनेसे कामनाकी निवृत्ति सहज हो सकती है।हाँ, अपने कहलानेवाले शरीरादि पदार्थोंको कभी भी अपना तथा अपने लिये न मानकर दूसरोंकी सेवामें लगानेसे इन पदार्थोंसे स्वतः सम्बन्ध-विच्छेद हो जाता है, जिससे तत्काल अपने सत्स्वरूपका बोध हो जाता है। फिर कोई अभाव शेष नहीं रहता। जिसके मनमें किसी प्रकारके अभावकी मान्यता (कामना) नहीं रहती, वह मनुष्य जीते-जी ही संसारसे मुक्त है।
🪷 Place in the Bhagavad-Gītā
- This is verse 13 of 43 in Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga (The Yoga of Action)
- Chapter theme: Action as worship · the yajña-cycle · sva-dharma over para-dharma
- Ṣaṭka grouping: TVAM-Ṣaṭka (BG 1-6 · the jīva)
- Chapter hub: /karma-yoga
- ⭐ Mahābhārata anchor: this verse is also MBh 6.25.13 (Bhīṣma-Parva · the BG in its full narrative home)
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Chicago: Vyāsa Maharṣi. "Bhagavad-Gītā 3.13." Vidhyāmitra. Accessed 2026-07-28. https://vidhyamitra.com/bhagavad-gita/3/13.
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सर्वम् कृष्णार्पणम् — this verse is one maṇi (jewel) on Krishna's thread (BG 7.7)