Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 4, Verse 31
यज्ञशिष्टामृतभुजो यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनम्।
नायं लोकोऽस्त्ययज्ञस्य कुतो़ऽन्यः कुरुसत्तम।।
नायं लोकोऽस्त्ययज्ञस्य कुतो़ऽन्यः कुरुसत्तम।।
yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujo yānti brahma sanātanam
nāyaṁ loko ’styayajñasya kuto ’nyaḥ kuru-sattama
also searched as "Yajna shishtamrita bhujo yanti brahma sanatanam"
Translation
This world is not for one who makes no sacrifice; how then for the other, O Arjuna?
Vāṇi's rendering
Those who live on offering's remnant reach the eternal. Without offering, this world fails you — let alone the next.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| यज्ञशिष्टामृतभुजःyajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujaḥ | those who eat the deathless remnant left over from offering (sandhi: bhujaḥ becomes bhujo before yānti) |
| यान्तिyānti | they go, they reach |
| ब्रह्मbrahma | the vast, Brahman |
| सनातनम्sanātanam | eternal, without beginning or end |
| नna | not |
| अयम्ayam | this (sandhi: na + ayam becomes nāyaṁ) |
| लोकःlokaḥ | world (sandhi: lokaḥ + asti becomes loko 'sti) |
| अस्तिasti | is, exists, belongs |
| अयज्ञस्यayajñasya | of the one who makes no offering |
| कुतःkutaḥ | how then, from where |
| अन्यःanyaḥ | the other one, the world beyond (sandhi: kutaḥ + anyaḥ becomes kuto 'nyaḥ) |
| कुरुसत्तमkuru-sattama | best of the Kurus — Krishna's name for Arjuna here |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 31 mean?
It means that those who live on what is left after offering — food, work, gain, all of it given first — arrive at the eternal. And it means the reverse plainly: the one who offers nothing finds even this present world giving way beneath him. Krishna is not threatening Arjuna. He is describing how holding tightly hollows out what is held.
What does Yajna shishtamrita bhujo yanti brahma sanatanam teach?
That the remnant is the sweetest part. Krishna calls it amṛta — deathless. What passes through offering comes back changed, and living on that changed portion is itself the road to sanātanam, the eternal. You do not have to renounce the meal. You have to stop eating first.
Why does Krishna say this world is not for one who makes no offering?
Because a life arranged entirely around keeping cannot hold even what it keeps. Krishna's point is present-tense: the un-offered world grows brittle, joyless, defended. If this world already fails such a person, the question of any further world hardly arises. That is the force of kutaḥ — how then?
Do I have to perform rituals to follow this verse?
Not necessarily fire and mantra. Yajña here is any act done as offering rather than acquisition — the meal shared before it is eaten, the work released before its result is counted. What makes it yajña is the giving-first, not the ceremony. Begin with one thing today that you do not keep.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice the word: remnant. Not the whole offering — what is left after the giving. Krishna calls that leftover amṛta, deathless food. One who eats only what remains after something has been offered is eating differently from one who takes first and gives away the spare. Then the hard half: one who makes no offering finds even ordinary life closing in. Not the next world. This one. The house, the work, the food on your table — held as yours alone, they thin out. Arjuna wanted to know whether action binds. Krishna answers that grasping binds. Eat second, and even the leftovers turn deathless.