Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3, Verse 10

Chapter 3 – Karma Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः ।
अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ॥

Transliteration

sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ .
anena prasaviṣyadhvameṣa vo.astviṣṭakāmadhuk ॥

Meaning

In the beginning, having created beings together with sacrifice, Prajapati said: ‘By this shall you prosper; let this be your wish-yielding cow.’

Word meanings

सहयज्ञाः – together with sacrifice
प्रजाः – beings, creatures
सृष्ट्वा – having created
पुरा – in the beginning
उवाच – said
प्रजापतिः – Prajapati, the Creator
अनेन – by this
प्रसविष्यध्वम् – prosper, multiply
एषः – this
वः – for you
अस्तु – let it be
इष्टकामधुक् – the wish-yielding cow

Anvaya (word order)

पुरा प्रजापतिः सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा उवाच — अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वम्; एषः वः इष्टकामधुक् अस्तु ।

Explanation

With this verse the Lord moves from the individual to the whole world. In the beginning, he says, the Creator, Prajapati, brought forth beings together with yajna, and said to them: "By this you shall flourish; let it be for you the cow that grants your wishes, ishta-kamadhuk." The picture is of a universe designed on the principle of giving and receiving, not of grabbing and hoarding.

Shankara takes Prajapati to be the creator who, along with the people of the three orders, laid down the sacrificial duties of the Veda, and he explains kamadhuk as that which milks out every desired fruit; faithful performance of duty yields what one rightly needs. Ramanuja understands the verse as showing that the Lord Himself, at the start of creation, taught the worship by which beings prosper, making yajna their means of both well-being and liberation. Madhva too stresses that the sacrifice is directed to Vishnu, through whom the gods and all beings are sustained.

The image of the wish-fulfilling cow is rich. A cow gives milk only when she is tended; she is not a vending machine. Likewise, yajna yields its fruits not through demand but through care. When we tend our relationships, our work, our land and our environment with a spirit of offering, the world responds by supplying what we need. When we take without returning, the cow dries up.

This is a strikingly modern thought. Forests, rivers, farms, families and economies all survive by a circulation of giving and receiving. A farmer who feeds the soil gets a harvest; a teacher who gives freely is repaid in the growth of students. Greed breaks the circle, and the result is scarcity, conflict and anxiety.

The verse also reminds us that desire, kama, is not condemned. Rightful desire is given a legitimate channel: let your wishes be fulfilled through yajna. Only desire that tries to bypass the offering is the problem. The next six verses, 3.11 to 3.16, develop this cycle with the gods, rain, food and action, and 3.13 warns what happens to those who eat without offering. For a related image see 4.31, where the non-giver finds no happiness even in this world.

Context

Having spoken of yajna-action in 3.9, the Lord now supplies its cosmic background. From here through 3.16 the section deals with the cycle of creation, the debt to the devas and the censure of the selfish life.

Life lesson

The world runs on mutual support. Giving in return for what we receive is the natural law of life; one who lives in this spirit remains rich even in scarcity.

Key terms

Prajapati: the Creator, Brahma
Sahayajna: together with sacrifice, with the spirit of giving
Kamadhuk: the wish-fulfilling cow