Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 17, Verse 3
सत्त्वानुरूपा सर्वस्य श्रद्धा भवति भारत।श्रद्धामयोऽयं पुरुषो यो यच्छ्रद्धः स एव सः।।
sattvānurūpā sarvasya śraddhā bhavati bhārata
śraddhā-mayo ‘yaṁ puruṣo yo yac-cchraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ
also searched as "sattvanurupa sarvasya shraddha bhavati bharata"
Translation
O Arjuna, the faith of everyone is in accordance with their inner organ (Antahkarana). Each person consists of faith; whatever their faith is, that is who they are.
Vāṇi's rendering
Faith follows the shape of the heart. A person is made of their faith: as your faith is, so are you.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सत्त्वsattva | the inner make-up, the settled disposition of a person (joins with the next word: sattva + anurūpā = sattvānurūpā) |
| अनुरूपाanurūpā | shaped after, conforming to |
| सर्वस्यsarvasya | of everyone |
| श्रद्धाśraddhā | faith, the trust one lives by |
| भवतिbhavati | is, comes to be |
| भारतbhārata | O Arjuna, descendant of Bharata |
| श्रद्धामयःśraddhā-mayaḥ | made of faith, consisting of faith |
| अयम्ayaṁ | this |
| पुरुषःpuruṣaḥ | person |
| यःyaḥ | whoever |
| यत्-श्रद्धःyac-cchraddhaḥ | having whatever faith (yat + śraddhaḥ, joined by sandhi) |
| सःsaḥ | he, that one |
| एवeva | verily, exactly |
| सःsaḥ | is that |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 Verse 3 mean?
It means faith is not chosen from outside; it grows out of what a person already is. Krishna tells Arjuna that each one's śraddhā follows the grain of the inner make-up, and then goes further — a person is constituted of faith. What you trust is not something you hold. It is what you are.
What is the meaning of sattvanurupa sarvasya shraddha bhavati bharata?
Sattva here is the settled inner disposition, everything a life has deposited in a person. Anurūpā means shaped after it. So the faith of each one takes the form of the heart it grows in — which is why two people hearing the same teaching will trust two different parts of it.
If my faith is fixed by my nature, can I change it?
Krishna does not say faith is frozen. He says it follows the shape of the heart. Change the heart's habits — what you feed it, what company it keeps, what it does daily — and the faith reshapes with it. You cannot argue yourself into trust. You can live yourself into it.
Why does Krishna say a person is made of faith?
Because faith is not an opinion sitting on top of you. It decides what you eat, whom you serve, what you fear, how you spend an unwatched hour. Trace those back and you find one trust underneath them all. Krishna is saying: that trust is not yours. It is you.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is not describing belief. He is describing what you are made of. Sattva here is the inner grain — what has settled in you from everything you have done and wanted. Faith takes that shape, the way water takes the shape of its vessel. Then the line turns and becomes larger: a person does not have faith, a person is faith. Arjuna cannot pick up a conviction the way he picks up a bow. Neither can you. What you actually trust — not what you profess — is already the shape of you. Notice what you lean on when no one is watching.