Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8, Verse 3

Chapter 8 – Akshara Brahma Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

श्रीभगवानुवाच ।
अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते ।
भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ॥

Transliteration

śrībhagavānuvāca .
akṣaraṃ brahma paramaṃ svabhāvo.adhyātmamucyate .
bhūtabhāvodbhavakaro visargaḥ karmasaṃjñitaḥ ॥

Meaning

The Blessed Lord said: The supreme imperishable is Brahman; one's own inherent nature is called Adhyatma; and the creative offering that brings beings into existence is called Karma.

Word meanings

श्रीभगवान् उवाच – the Blessed Lord said
अक्षरम् – imperishable
ब्रह्म – Brahman
परमम् – supreme
स्वभावः – one's own inherent nature
अध्यात्मम् – Adhyatma
उच्यते – is called
भूतभावोद्भवकरः – that which brings forth the being and becoming of creatures
विसर्गः – offering, the creative emission
कर्मसंज्ञितः – named Karma

Anvaya (word order)

श्रीभगवान् उवाच — परमम् अक्षरं ब्रह्म (उच्यते); स्वभावः अध्यात्मम् उच्यते; भूतभावोद्भवकरः विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः (अस्ति)।

Explanation

Arjuna has asked seven questions at the start of the chapter: what is Brahman, what is adhyatma, what is karma, what is adhibhuta, what is adhidaiva, who is adhiyajna, and how is the Lord to be remembered at the hour of death. The Lord begins His answer with the first three, and does so with great economy. "The Imperishable is the Supreme Brahman; one's own inner nature is called adhyatma; and the creative offering that brings beings into existence and sustains them is called karma."

Take each term in turn. Brahman is described as akshara, the one that does not perish, the paramam, the highest. Everything that changes, from a body to a mountain to a star, is perishable; the highest reality is that which remains while all else changes. Adhyatma is svabhava, the individual's own essential nature. Shankara explains that it is the Self's presence in each body as the soul, which a person sees as his own. Karma is the visarga, the sacrificial emission or offering, from which beings are born and grow.

The commentators differ in emphasis. Shankara reads Brahman as the impersonal, changeless reality, adhyatma as the Self that has entered each body, and karma as the Vedic ritual action that sustains the cycle of beings, in line with 3.14. Ramanuja reads akshara as the Lord who is immutable, adhyatma as the individual soul, for the soul too is "within" the body, and karma as the activity through which beings are nourished and the world moves forward. Madhva takes the supreme Brahman as Vishnu and the others as His powers and relations to individual souls and creation.

Why does Arjuna's question matter here? Because the teaching of the chapter is about what to remember at the time of death, and before one can remember the Supreme, one must know what the Supreme is, what the soul is, and how action connects them. Without these definitions, "remembering the Lord" could be a mere phrase. With them, it becomes a clear aim: to recognise the imperishable beyond all passing things, to see one's own nature as belonging to it, and to see work as an offering.

Practically, the verse invites a simple inquiry: What in my life is passing, and what remains? Which of my actions are offerings, and which are grabs? The verse sets up 8.4, which deals with adhibhuta, adhidaiva and adhiyajna, and also resonates with 2.17 on the indestructible all-pervading Reality and 3.9 to 3.16 on the cycle of yajna.

Context

Krishna now answers the first three of Arjuna's terms from 8.1: Brahman, Adhyatma, Karma. The other three (Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva, Adhiyajna) are explained in the next verse.

Life lesson

Any action becomes karma in the true sense when it is done with a spirit of offering. Recognising the imperishable Self within and performing duties as service is the practical form of spirituality.

Key terms

अक्षर ब्रह्म: the supreme imperishable Reality that never decays
स्वभाव: one's inner nature; for Shankara, Brahman present as the individual
अध्यात्म: what pertains to the Self
विसर्ग: sacrificial offering that gives rise to and sustains beings