Bhagavad Gita 4.31
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 31 of 42
यज्ञशिष्टामृतभुजो यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनम् । नायं लोकोऽस्त्ययज्ञस्य कुतोऽन्यः कुरुसत्तम ॥
yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujo yānti brahma sanātanam | nāyaṃ loko 'sty ayajñasya kuto 'nyaḥ kuru-sattama ||
Those who eat yajna's remnants reach eternal Brahman. Without offering, not even this world is theirs.
Word by word (3)
- yajña-śiṣṭa-amṛta-bhujaḥ yānti brahma sanātanam
- — those who eat the nectar-remnant of yajna go to eternal Brahman · Yajña-śiṣṭa = the remnant/remainder of yajna (śiṣṭa = left over, from śiṣ = to leave over). Amṛta = nectar, immortal substance (a + mṛta = not-dead = deathless). Together: yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta = the immortal remnant of yajna — what remains after the sacrifice is the purified residue, the prasād that nourishes the giver. Bhujaḥ = those who eat/enjoy. Yānti = they go. Brahma sanātanam = eternal Brahman.
- na ayaṃ lokaḥ asti ayajñasya kutaḥ anyaḥ kuru-sattama
- — not even this world exists for the non-offerer — how then the other? O best of the Kurus · Na ayaṃ lokaḥ = not this world. Asti = exists. Ayajñasya = for the one who does not sacrifice (a+yajña = non-sacrifice person; genitive = 'for him'). Kutaḥ anyaḥ = how then another (world)? If the person who does not offer cannot find a foothold even in the immediate world of action and result — how could they access anything higher? Kuru-sattama = O best of the Kurus (address to Arjuna — the highest in the Kuru lineage).
- yajña-śiṣṭa — the remnant that nourishes
- — the residue of offering is the most nourishing food — the offering returns as gift · The concept of yajña-śiṣṭa embeds a cosmic law: what you give away returns purified and enriched. The one who eats only what they have offered has already participated in the cosmic exchange — their nourishment is qualified by the offering. The one who takes without offering lives from unrefined, karma-generating consumption. V31 closes the yajna taxonomy of V25-31 with this stark contrast.
Those who eat the immortal remnants of yajna go to eternal Brahman. Not even this world exists for the non-offerer — how then could another world exist for them, O Arjuna?
A modern analogy
Those who give of themselves — time, skill, resources — as genuine offering find that the giving enriches them. Those who only consume, never offer, find that even what they have feels insufficient and unstable. The one who does not participate in the cosmic exchange of offering has no ground in this world or the next.
Take with you
- Yajña-śiṣṭa (remnant of yajna): what you receive after offering is qualitatively different from what you take without offering.
- Amṛta (nectar/immortal): the residue of genuine offering is nourishing in the deepest sense — it feeds liberation, not just the body.
- Ayajñasya (of the non-offerer): the person who never gives, never participates in exchange, has no stable foundation anywhere.
- This verse closes the yajna taxonomy: the survey that began with the offering to the gods and ran through every form of sacrifice ends with the reminder of why yajna matters.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
The righteous who eat the remnants of sacrifice, the nectar of immortality, go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for the non-sacrificer — how then the other world, O best of the Kurus? [1]
The righteous who eat the remnants of the sacrifice go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for him who offers no sacrifice — how then the other world, O best of the Kurus? [4]
Those who partake of the immortal remnants of the sacrifice go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for him who makes no sacrifice — how then the other, O best of the Kurus? [6]
Those who eat of the sacrifice's remnants go to Brahman. This world is not for the non-sacrificer — how then the other, O best of Kurus? [7]
Those who eat the remnants of the sacrifice, the nectar of immortality, go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for the man who sacrifices not — how then the other world, O best of the Kurus? [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
Regulated food, prāṇas offered into prāṇas — ALL these are knowers of yajna; yajna destroys all their impurities.
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
Brahman is the Imperishable; Adhyātma is its presence in each body; Karma is the cosmic offering sustaining all beings.
Intellect, wisdom, patience, truth, calm, restraint, joy, pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness — all arise from Me.
Non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — these varied states arise from Me alone.
Verse 31 of 42 · back to Chapter 4