Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15, Verse 14

Chapter 15 – Purushottama Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

अहं वैश्वानरो भूत्वा प्राणिनां देहमाश्रितः ।
प्राणापानसमायुक्तः पचाम्यन्नं चतुर्विधम् ॥

Transliteration

ahaṃ vaiśvānaro bhūtvā prāṇināṃ dehamāśritaḥ .
prāṇāpānasamāyuktaḥ pacāmyannaṃ caturvidham ॥

Meaning

Becoming the fire Vaishvanara, I dwell in the bodies of living beings and, joined with prana and apana, I digest the four kinds of food.

Word meanings

अहम् – I
वैश्वानरः – the universal digestive fire
भूत्वा – having become
प्राणिनाम् – of living beings
देहम् – the body
आश्रितः – dwelling in
प्राणापानसमायुक्तः – united with the upward and downward breaths
पचामि – I digest
अन्नम् – food
चतुर्विधम् – of four kinds

Anvaya (word order)

अहम् वैश्वानरः भूत्वा प्राणिनाम् देहम् आश्रितः प्राणापानसमायुक्तः चतुर्विधम् अन्नम् पचामि ।

Explanation

Krishna has said that He supports beings through the earth and nourishes plants as the moon. Now He follows food to its final change: digestion within the body. Vaishvanara is the fire common to all living beings. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad speaks of it as the fire within a person by which eaten food is digested, whose sound one hears on closing the ears.

Prana and apana are the two chief vital currents, the first moving upward and the second downward. Their cooperation keeps the digestive fire burning. Tradition counts food as fourfold: what is chewed (bhakshya), what is swallowed (bhojya), what is licked (lehya) and what is sucked (choshya). The list is meant to take in every kind of nourishment.

Shankara adds a fine observation. The eater is the fire Vaishvanara and the food eaten is Soma; both are the Lord. One who sees eating in this way is not tainted by the food. Ramanuja sees here too the inner controller who carries on the life processes in every body.

From this understanding grew the custom of reciting brahmarpanam brahma havih (Gita 4.24) before meals. Eating then becomes not a bodily routine but a small sacrifice offered to the Lord who dwells within.

Context

In verses 12 and 13 Krishna claimed the powers of light, support and nourishment. Here He reveals Himself as the digestive fire inside living bodies. In the next verse He goes deeper still and declares that He is seated in the hearts of all.

Life lesson

Take food with restraint and gratitude, as an offering to the Lord within. Seeing the Divine in the body’s quiet work encourages respect for the body and care for its health.

Key terms

Vaishvanara: the universal fire of digestion in all beings
Prana and Apana: the upward and downward vital currents
Fourfold food: food that is chewed, swallowed, licked or sucked