Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 17, Verse 7
आहारस्त्वपि सर्वस्य त्रिविधो भवति प्रियः।यज्ञस्तपस्तथा दानं तेषां भेदमिमं श्रृणु।।
āhāras tv api sarvasya tri-vidho bhavati priyaḥ
yajñas tapas tathā dānaṁ teṣāṁ bhedam imaṁ śṛṇu
also searched as "aharas tv api sarvasya trividho bhavati priyah"
Translation
Even the food that is dear to all is threefold; so too are sacrifices, austerities, and gifts. Listen to this distinction among them.
Vāṇi's rendering
Even the food a person loves comes in three kinds — as do offering, austerity, and giving. Hear the difference.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आहारःāhāraḥ | food, what one takes in — appears as āhāras before the following word |
| तुtu | and, moreover — shortened to tv by sandhi |
| अपिapi | even, also |
| सर्वस्यsarvasya | of everyone, of each person |
| त्रिविधःtri-vidhaḥ | of three kinds |
| भवतिbhavati | is, becomes |
| प्रियःpriyaḥ | dear, loved, preferred |
| यज्ञःyajñaḥ | offering, sacrifice — appears as yajñas before the next word |
| तपःtapaḥ | austerity, disciplined heat — appears as tapas here |
| तथाtathā | so too, likewise |
| दानम्dānam | giving, the gift |
| तेषाम्teṣām | of these |
| भेदम्bhedam | the difference, the distinction |
| इमम्imam | this |
| शृणुśṛṇu | hear, listen |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17 Verse 7 mean?
Krishna says that even taste is not neutral. The food a person naturally loves reveals which of the three natures is running in them — and the same threefold split runs through offering, austerity and giving. He then promises to spell out the difference, which the following verses do.
What is the meaning of aharas tv api sarvasya trividho bhavati priyah?
Everyone's food is threefold. Not that there are three menus, but that appetite itself carries a signature — sāttvika, rājasika, tāmasika. Krishna places this before the grand subjects deliberately. Your preference at the table is already a report on your inner weather, and it arrives daily.
Why does Krishna talk about food alongside sacrifice and charity?
Because he refuses the split we love to make between spiritual acts and ordinary ones. Offering, austerity and giving are what a person does publicly; eating is what they do privately. Krishna runs the same measure over both. The nature that shapes your gift also shapes your plate.
How can I use this verse in daily life?
Stop asking whether a thing is permitted and start noticing what draws you to it. Krishna is not handing out a diet. He is teaching you to read your own pull — toward the fresh, the fiery, or the stale — and to see that the same pull governs how you give.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has just finished describing the demonic and the divine, and now he turns to lunch. Food — the most ordinary thing a person does, three times a day, without thinking. He says even what you love is coloured: the same plate approached out of three different natures. And in the same breath: offering, austerity, giving. The great acts and the small one share a single list. This is the Gītā's refusal to keep religion in a separate room. What you reach for when nobody is watching has the same texture as what you offer when everyone is. Watch your hand at the next meal.