Bhagavad Gita · 9.24 · Yoga through the King of Sciences·24 of 34
अहं हि सर्वयज्ञानां भोक्ता च प्रभुरेव च।न तु मामभिजानन्ति तत्त्वेनातश्च्यवन्ति ते ॥
ahaṁ hi sarva-yajñānāṁ bhoktā cha prabhureva cha
na tu mām abhijānanti tattvenātaśh chyavanti te
Sanskrit recitation
How people reach for God · 9.11–9.25 · Teaching
Translation
For I alone am the enjoyer and Lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know Me in reality, and thus they return to this mortal world.
Meaning
They do not know that I, the Supreme Self, am the enjoyer of all sacrifices enjoined in the Vedas and the Smritis (the codes of right conduct) and the Lord of all sacrifices. As I am the inner Ruler of this world I am the Lord of all sacrifices (Vide chapter VIII. 4 -- Adhiyajnohamevatra I am the presiding deity of the sacrifice). I am at the beginning and at the end of every sacrifice and yet these people worship other gods. Therefore they worship in ignorance. As they worhsip other gods without recognising Me, and as they have not consecrated their actions to Me, they return to this mortal world after their merits are exhausted from the plane to which they had attained as the result of their sacrifices.Those who are devoted to other gods and who worship Me in ignorance (Avidhipurvakam) also get the fruit of sacrifice. How (Cf.V.29XV.9)
After Swami Sivananda
How people reach for God· 9.11–9.25→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 9.11Fools disregard Me, clad in human form, not knowing My higher Being as the great Lord of all beings.
- 9.12They are possessed of the deceitful nature of demons and undivine beings, filled with vain hopes, vain actions, and vain knowledge that is senseless.
- 9.13But the great souls, O Arjuna, partaking of My divine nature, worship Me with a single-minded devotion, knowing Me as the imperishable source of all beings.
- 9.14Always glorifying Me, striving, firm in their vows, prostrating themselves before Me, they worship Me with steadfast devotion.
- 9.15Others also, sacrificing with the wisdom-sacrifice, worship Me, the All-Faced, as one, distinct, and manifold.
- 9.16I am Kratu; I am Yajna; I am the offering to the manes; I am the medicinal herbs and all plants; I am the Mantra; I am also the ghee or melted butter; I am the fire; I am the oblation.
- 9.17I am the father of this world, the mother, the dispenser of the fruits of actions, and the grandfather; the one thing to be known, the purifier, the sacred monosyllable (Om), and also the Rik, Sama, and Yajur Vedas.
- 9.18I am the goal, the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the shelter, the friend, the origin, the dissolution, the foundation, the treasure-house, and the imperishable seed.
- 9.19As the sun, I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also death, existence and non-existence, O Arjuna.
- 9.20The knowers of the three Vedas, the drinkers of Soma, purified of all sins, worshipping Me through sacrifices, pray for the way to heaven; they reach the holy world of the Lord of the gods and enjoy the divine pleasures of the gods in heaven.
- 9.21They, having enjoyed the vast heaven, enter the world of mortals when their merit is exhausted; thus abiding by the injunctions of the three (Vedas) and desiring objects of desires, they attain to the state of coming and going.
- 9.22For those men who worship Me alone, thinking of no one else, for those ever-united, I secure what they have not already possessed and preserve what they already possess.
- 9.23Even those devotees who, endowed with faith, worship other gods, worship Me alone, O Arjuna, but by the wrong method.
9.24For I alone am the enjoyer and Lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know Me in reality, and thus they return to this mortal world.
- 9.25The worshippers of the gods go to them; the ancestor-worshippers go to the manes; the worshippers of the deities who preside over the elements go to them; but My devotees come to Me.
Word-by-word→
- aham
- I
- hi
- verily
- sarva
- of all
- yajñānām
- sacrifices
- bhoktā
- the enjoyer
- cha
- and
- prabhuḥ
- the Lord
- eva
- only
- na
- not
- tu
- but
- mām
- me
- abhijānanti
- realize
- tattvena
- divine nature
- ataḥ
- therefore
- chyavanti
- fall down (wander in samsara)
- te
- they
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