Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 9, Verse 27
यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत्।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम्।।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम्।।
yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam
also searched as "Yat karoshi yadashnasi yajjuhoshi dadasi yat"
Translation
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give away, whatever austerity you practice, O Arjuna, do that as an offering to Me.
Vāṇi's rendering
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, give, offer, or endure — do it as an offering to me.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| यत्yat | whatever |
| करोषिkaroṣi | you do |
| यत्yad | whatever (sandhi: yat + aśnāsi) |
| अश्नासिaśnāsi | you eat |
| यत्yaj | whatever (sandhi: yat + juhoṣi) |
| जुहोषिjuhoṣi | you offer into the fire |
| ददासिdadāsi | you give away |
| यत्yat | whatever |
| यत्yat | whatever |
| तपस्यसिtapasyasi | you undergo as hardship or discipline |
| कौन्तेयkaunteya | Arjuna, son of Kuntī |
| तत्tat | that |
| कुरुष्वkuruṣva | do it, make it |
| मदर्पणम्mad-arpaṇam | an offering to me |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 27 mean?
Krishna gathers the whole of a life — work, food, giving, ritual, hardship — and asks that all of it be turned toward him. He does not ask for a different life. He asks for the same life offered. The act stays exactly as it was; only its direction changes, and that changes everything.
What does 'yat karoshi yad ashnasi' mean in the Gita?
Whatever you do, whatever you eat. The line is deliberately wide. Krishna lists nothing special, nothing priestly — the plainest human motions of a day. Then comes mad-arpaṇam: make it mine. The smallness of the acts is the point. Nothing is too ordinary to be given.
Do I have to give up ordinary work to offer everything to Krishna?
No. This verse forecloses that escape. Arjuna wanted out of his duty; Krishna keeps him in it and only asks him to hold it differently. Renunciation here is not of action but of ownership. You go on cooking, earning, tending, enduring — and stop calling the fruit yours.
How do I actually make eating or working an offering?
By a turn of intention, not a change of task. Before the meal, before the meeting, before the hard hour you would rather not have, let the thought form: this is yours. Nothing outward alters. But the doer quietly steps aside, and what was consumption becomes gift.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Notice what Krishna does not say. He does not say leave your life and come to the temple. He names the most ordinary things a person does in a day — working, eating, giving, burning something in a fire, going without — and asks only that they be turned in a direction. Nothing is added to the act. Nothing is subtracted. The meal is the same meal. What changes is whose it is. Arjuna cannot stop acting; no one can. So the question was never whether you act, but where the act is pointed. Point it at Krishna and the meal tonight is already worship.