Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 28
द्रव्ययज्ञास्तपोयज्ञा योगयज्ञास्तथापरे।
स्वाध्यायज्ञानयज्ञाश्च यतयः संशितव्रताः।।
स्वाध्यायज्ञानयज्ञाश्च यतयः संशितव्रताः।।
dravya-yajñās tapo-yajñā yoga-yajñās tathāpare
swādhyāya-jñāna-yajñāś ca yatayaḥ sanśita-vratāḥ
also searched as "dravya yajnas tapo yajna yoga yajnas tathapare"
Translation
Self-controlled and firm of resolve, others perform the sacrifice of material objects or austerities or yoga; while others offer their scriptural study and knowledge.
Vāṇi's rendering
Some offer wealth, some austerity, some practice; some, keen-vowed, offer study and knowledge itself.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| द्रव्ययज्ञाःdravya-yajñāḥ | those whose offering is wealth, goods, given away |
| तपोयज्ञाःtapo-yajñāḥ | those whose offering is austerity, hardship willingly borne |
| योगयज्ञाःyoga-yajñāḥ | those whose offering is practice, the disciplines of yoga |
| तथाtathā | likewise, in the same way |
| अपरेapare | still others (joined to the previous word by sandhi: tathā + apare) |
| स्वाध्याय-ज्ञान-यज्ञाःsvādhyāya-jñāna-yajñāḥ | those whose offering is study of sacred word and the knowledge it yields |
| चca | and (the preceding visarga becomes ś before it) |
| यतयःyatayaḥ | strivers, those who hold themselves in hand |
| संशितव्रताःsaṃśita-vratāḥ | keen-vowed, their promises sharpened like a blade |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 28 mean?
Krishna names several kinds of offering — wealth, austerity, yogic practice, study, knowledge — and ranks none of them. Each is a yajña because something real leaves the hands of the one who gives it. The verse widens the definition of sacrifice until almost any life can hold one.
Dravya yajnas tapo yajna yoga yajnas tathapare - what is this verse about?
It is a roll call of offerings. Some give substance, some give hardship, some give the long discipline of practice, some give svādhyāya and the knowledge born from it. The line ends with yatayaḥ saṃśita-vratāḥ — strivers of sharpened vows. Their strictness is with themselves, not with others.
Is one kind of sacrifice better than another in the Gita?
Krishna does not say so here. He sets them side by side. The measure is not the prestige of the offering but whether it actually left you. A modest thing genuinely given outweighs a grand thing held with one hand while the other reaches back for it.
What does it mean to offer knowledge as a sacrifice?
Jñāna-yajña is study that is not kept. You read, you understand, and then you refuse to make the understanding into property — a credential, an argument won, a way of standing above someone. The learning goes into the fire like anything else. What remains is a clearer person, not a fuller one.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Krishna is counting. Wealth, austerity, practice, study, knowledge — he lists them without ranking them, and the list is not finished so much as abandoned; there are as many offerings as there are people with something to give. What binds them is not the substance but the release of it. Arjuna has been hunting for the one correct act. There isn't one. There is only whatever is actually in your hands — money, effort, discipline, the hours you spend learning — held out rather than hoarded. The keen-vowed are not those who chose the highest offering. They are the ones who did not take it back.