Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3, Verse 14

Chapter 3 – Karma Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः ।
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥

Transliteration

annādbhavanti bhūtāni parjanyādannasambhavaḥ .
yajñādbhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karmasamudbhavaḥ ॥

Meaning

Beings arise and live from food; food comes from rain; rain comes from sacrifice; and sacrifice is born of action.

Word meanings

अन्नात् – from food
भवन्ति – come into being, are sustained
भूतानि – beings
पर्जन्यात् – from rain
अन्नसम्भवः – the origin of food
यज्ञात् – from sacrifice
भवति – arises
पर्जन्यः – rain
यज्ञः – sacrifice
कर्मसमुद्भवः – born of action

Anvaya (word order)

भूतानि अन्नात् भवन्ति; अन्नसम्भवः पर्जन्यात् (भवति); पर्जन्यः यज्ञात् भवति; यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः (भवति) ।

Explanation

This verse unrolls a chain of dependence that links a plate of food to the whole order of the universe. Beings arise from food; food comes from rain; rain comes from yajna; and yajna is born of karma, of action. Each link rests on the one that follows, and the chain ends not in some distant heaven but in the humble act of doing one's duty.

The first links are easy to see. Every living body is nourished by food, and food grows only when the rains fall. The more subtle claim is that rain depends on yajna. In the Vedic understanding, the sacrifices pleased the deities who govern the elements, and their favour returned as seasonal rain. Shankara explains yajna here as the unseen merit, apurva, produced by the sacrificial action of priests and householders, which in turn yields rain. Ramanuja holds that the Lord abides within all these processes and that the deities are His means, so that the cycle is ultimately His governance. Madhva adds that the deities act only in dependence on Vishnu.

A modern reader may not accept that ritual brings rain, and the verse can still be read for its enduring meaning. Rain, soil, labour, care and gratitude cooperate to put food in our hands. A grain of rice has passed through sun, water, a farmer's back, a trader's cart and a cook's hands before it reaches us. To see this is to feel indebtedness, and indebtedness is the root of yajna.

Karma, the last link, is the one link within our own power. We cannot command the clouds, but we can act with responsibility toward land, water, work and community. A society where everyone takes the harvest and no one tends the field soon discovers the rain failing, in some form or another.

The verse prepares the ground for 3.15, which traces action back to the Veda and the imperishable Brahman, and for 3.16, which says that a person who does not turn this wheel lives in vain. It also resonates with 15.14, where the Lord says that as the digestive fire He transforms the food we eat.

Context

The theme of the yajna-cycle has run since 3.9. Verse 3.13 spoke of the purity of food; now 3.14 opens the entire causal chain behind food and life, and 3.15 will trace it back to Brahman.

Life lesson

Our lives rest on countless unseen labours. Be grateful, and do your own share of work honestly, for your action is also a link in someone's chain of life.

Key terms

Parjanya: rain, rain-cloud
Anna: food; the basis of life
Karma-samudbhava: born of action