Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 17, Verse 13
विधिहीनमसृष्टान्नं मन्त्रहीनमदक्षिणम्।श्रद्धाविरहितं यज्ञं तामसं परिचक्षते।।
vidhi-hīnam asṛṣṭānnaṁ mantra-hīnam adakṣiṇam
śraddhā-virahitaṁ yajñaṁ tāmasaṁ paricakṣate
also searched as "vidhihinam asrishtannam mantrahinam adakshinam"
Translation
That sacrifice which is devoid of authority, which uses offerings not sanctioned by the Sastras, which is performed without recitation of hymns and devoid of gifts and faith - that, they say, is marked by Tamas.
Vāṇi's rendering
An offering with no order to it, no food shared, no mantra, no gift, no faith — that they call dark.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| विधिहीनम्vidhi-hīnam | lacking the prescribed order; done with no regard for how it is meant to be done |
| असृष्टान्नम्asṛṣṭa-annam | in which no food is given out (sandhi: asṛṣṭa + annam) — nobody is fed by it |
| मन्त्रहीनम्mantra-hīnam | without the words spoken over it |
| अदक्षिणम्adakṣiṇam | without the gift that closes it; nothing given away |
| श्रद्धाविरहितम्śraddhā-virahitam | emptied of faith |
| यज्ञम्yajñam | the offering, the rite |
| तामसम्tāmasam | dark, inert, of the nature of tamas |
| परिचक्षतेparicakṣate | they call it, they name it so |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 Verse 13 mean?
It names the lowest kind of offering by its holes. No order kept, no food shared, no mantra spoken, no gift given, no faith behind it — and Krishna calls that dark. Not because harm was done, but because the act was hollow. The form stood; nothing passed through it.
What does vidhihinam asrishtannam mantrahinam adakshinam mean?
Four words for four absences: without rule, without food distributed, without mantra, without the closing gift. Then a fifth, śraddhā-virahitam — drained of faith. The line is a list of what is not there. Tāmasa action is recognised this way, by subtraction rather than by any wrong it commits.
Why is feeding people part of what makes an offering real?
Because an offering that keeps everything is not an offering. Asṛṣṭānnam — no food sent out — marks the rite where nothing actually left the giver's hands. Krishna treats this as decisive. Whatever else is correct, if nobody received anything, the act was a performance staged for itself.
Can something I do with good technique still be tamasic?
Yes, and that is the sting of the verse. Śraddhā is listed last, after the visible requirements, as if to say the others can be met and the thing still be dark. Do the work properly and mean none of it, and Krishna has a word for you.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Count the absences. No order, no food shared, no mantra, no gift, no faith — Krishna describes darkness by what is missing from it. Nothing wicked is done here. Something is simply performed empty: the shape of an offering with the offering removed. Arjuna is being shown that a rite can be complete in form and still be nothing, because no one was fed and no one meant it. The test is not whether you showed up. It is whether anything left your hands, and whether you believed in it while it left. Notice the gestures you make while thinking of something else.