March 8 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 3; Verses 3.14-3.15 (Day 68) Karma Yoga

 March 8 – Day 68

Verse 3.14-3.15

अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः ।

यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥ ३-१४॥ 

annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ
yajñād bhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ (14) 

அன்னாத்³ப⁴வந்தி¹ பூ⁴தா¹ னி ப¹ர்ஜன்யாத³ன்னஸம்ப⁴வ: |
யஞ்ஞாத்³ப⁴வதி¹ ப¹ர்ஜன்யோ யஞ்ஞ: க¹ர்மஸமுத்³ப⁴வ: || 14 || 

14. From food come forth beings, and from rain food is produced; from sacrifice arises rain, and sacrifice is born of action. 

COMMENTARY: Here Yajna means “Apurva” or the subtle principle or the unseen form which a sacrifice assumes between the time of its performance and the time when its fruits manifest themselves. 

कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भवं विद्धि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भवम् ।

तस्मात्सर्वगतं ब्रह्म नित्यं यज्ञे प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥ ३-१५॥ 

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi brahmākṣhara-samudbhavam
tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣhṭhitam (15) 

க¹ர்ம ப்³ரஹ்மோத்³ப⁴வம் வித்³தி⁴ ப்³ரஹ்மாக்ஷரஸமுத்³ப⁴வம் |
த¹ஸ்மாத்¹ஸர்வக³தம் ப்³ரஹ்ம நித்¹யம் யஞ்ஞே ப்ரதி¹ஷ்டி²த¹ம் ||15|| 

15. Know thou that action comes from Brahma, and Brahma proceeds from the Imperishable. Therefore, the all-pervading (Brahma) ever rests in sacrifice. 

COMMENTARY: Brahma may mean “Veda”. Just as the breath comes out of a man, so also the Veda is the breath of the Imperishable or the Omniscient.  The Veda ever rests in the sacrifice, i.e., it deals chiefly with sacrifices and the ways of their performance. (Cf.IV.24 to 32)

            Karma: Action, Brahmodbhavam: arisen from the injunctions of the Vedas. 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda [verses 14-15] 

Sacrifice produces rain! It is asserted by some that the smoke that rises from the sacrificial (homa) pit brings about the necessary change in the atmosphere to induce the cloud to rain.

Even subtler than this is the power of good thoughts. There is a proverb in Tamil which says that if there is one good man in the village, the entire village will be blessed with sufficient rain to ensure its prosperity. The selfish man is more concerned with destroying the prosperity of the neighbour than with building his own, for he wants to shine as a superior person, one better than the neighbour. When all are selfish, the whole atmosphere is full of vicious thought-currents; ill-will fills the whole place and the mood of destruction prevails. The very elements respond to such thought-vibrations and we have famine and pestilence.

On the other hand, if there is self-sacrificing selflessness in the heart of man, then there is prosperity. It is easy enough to see that with that selflessness in his heart, man will ever try to promote the prosperity of others. His actions will be pure and prosperity promoting. Such pure action is divine, rooted in the imperishable, the eternal law that has created and that sustains the whole universe.

This is the law of the divine. Man should live a self-sacrificing, selfless life of service to all. Sacrifice is born of action. It is action, it is life. A life of sacrifice is therefore a full and dynamic life. Sacrifice knits knowledge and action into the fabric of divine life. 

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