Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 3, Verse 14
अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः।
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः।।
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः।।
annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ
yajñād bhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ
also searched as "annadbhavanti bhutani parjanyadannasambhavah"
Translation
All beings arise from food; food is produced from rain; rain comes from sacrifice; and sacrifice is born of action.
Vāṇi's rendering
Beings live on food, food on rain, rain on sacrifice — and sacrifice is born of action.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अन्नात्annāt | from food |
| भवन्तिbhavanti | come into being, live |
| भूतानिbhūtāni | living beings |
| पर्जन्यात्parjanyāt | from rain |
| अन्नसम्भवःanna-sambhavaḥ | the arising of food (joined to the previous word by sandhi) |
| यज्ञात्yajñāt | from sacrifice, from offering |
| भवतिbhavati | comes into being |
| पर्जन्यःparjanyaḥ | rain, the rain-cloud |
| यज्ञःyajñaḥ | sacrifice, the act of offering |
| कर्मसमुद्भवःkarma-samudbhavaḥ | having action as its source, born of work |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 14 mean?
It traces life back through its supports. Beings depend on food, food on rain, rain on yajña, and yajña on human action. Krishna is not describing meteorology; he is describing dependence. Everything that sustains you arrived through a chain of giving, and your own work is one of its links.
What is the meaning of annadbhavanti bhutani parjanyadannasambhavah?
From food beings come to be; from rain, food. The line reads like a simple fact of the fields, and it is. But Krishna sets it inside a circle that closes on karma — the rain answers the offering, the offering answers the act. You are fed by a system you did not build and must still feed.
Why does Krishna connect rain to sacrifice?
Because yajña is not ritual smoke alone; it is any act done as offering rather than as grasping. When work is given rather than hoarded, abundance returns through channels no one person controls. Rain is the image for that return — unearned, arriving from above, falling on everyone equally.
How does this verse apply to daily life?
Look at what sustained you today — food grown by strangers, water carried through pipes laid by the dead, work done while you slept. None of it was yours to arrange. Krishna's point is that receiving without contributing breaks something. Do your portion of the work, and the wheel keeps turning for someone else.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Follow the chain backward and it ends at your hands. Beings eat; the food came from rain; the rain came from sacrifice — from the giving that keeps the wheel turning; and sacrifice happens only because someone acted. Krishna is showing Arjuna that withdrawal is not neutral. To stop acting is to break a link in something that feeds everyone. The grain on your plate arrived through weather you did not make and labour you did not do. You are already inside that circulation, receiving. The only question left is whether you give back into it. Do your work — someone downstream eats because of it.