{ "verse_id": "4.31", "mūla": { "devanāgarī": "यज्ञ-शिष्टामृत-भुजो यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनम् | नायं लोको ऽस्त्य् अयज्ञस्य कुतो ऽन्यः कुरुसत्तम", "iast": "yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujo yānti brahma sanātanam | nāyaṃ loko 'sty ayajñasya kuto 'nyaḥ kurusattama", "chapter_position": "Chapter 4 (Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga (The Yoga of Renunciation of Action in Knowledge)), verse 31", "speaker": "Krishna", "addressed_to": "Arjuna" }, "word_by_word": [ { "surface_form": "yajña", "lemma": "yajña", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "यज्ञ" }, { "surface_form": "śiṣṭa", "lemma": "√śās", "grammar": "compound participle (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "शिष्ट" }, { "surface_form": "amṛta", "lemma": "amṛta", "grammar": "compound (compound member)", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अमृत" }, { "surface_form": "bhujaḥ", "lemma": "bhuj", "grammar": "nominative masculine plural noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "भुजः" }, { "surface_form": "yānti", "lemma": "√yā", "grammar": "present indicative 3rd person plural verb", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म सनातनं चिरन्तनं मुमुक्षवश्चेत् कालातिक्रमापेक्षया इति सामर्थ्यात् गम्यते", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "। अयज्ञस्य महायज्ञादिपूर्वकनित्यनैमित्तिककर्मरहितस्य न अयं लोकः न प्राकृतलोकः प्राकृतलोकसम्बन्धिधर्मार्थकामाख्यः पुरुषार", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "। तदकरणे दोषदर्शनेन व्यतिरेचयति नायमिति। अयमल्पानन्दोऽपि लोको देहो वाऽयज्ञस्य न भवति ततोऽन्यो दिव्यस्तु कुतः इति कर्त्तव", "school": "śuddhādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "vallabha" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "यान्ति" }, { "surface_form": "brahma", "lemma": "brahman", "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "सनातनं चिरन्तनं मुमुक्षवश्चेत् कालातिक्रमापेक्षया इति सामर्थ्यात् गम्यते", "school": "advaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "shankara" ] }, { "sense": "यान्ति", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja" ] }, { "sense": "साक्षात् परम्परया", "school": "śuddhādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "vallabha" ] }, { "sense": "ज्ञानद्वारेण प्राप्नुवन्ति", "school": "bhakti", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "sridhara" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "ब्रह्म" }, { "surface_form": "sanātanam", "lemma": "sanātana", "grammar": "accusative neuter singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "सनातनम्" }, { "surface_form": "na", "lemma": "na", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "न" }, { "surface_form": "ayam", "lemma": "idam", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अयम्" }, { "surface_form": "lokaḥ", "lemma": "loka", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "लोकः" }, { "surface_form": "asti", "lemma": "√as", "grammar": "present indicative 3rd person singular verb", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अस्ति" }, { "surface_form": "ayajñasya", "lemma": "ayajña", "grammar": "genitive masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [ { "sense": "महायज्ञादिपूर्वकनित्यनैमित्तिककर्मरहितस्य न अयं लोकः न प्राकृतलोकः प्राकृतलोकसम्बन्धिधर्मार्थकामाख्यः पुरुषार्थः न सिध्", "school": "viśiṣṭādvaita", "weight": 0.8, "witnesses": [ "ramanuja", "vedantadeshika" ] } ], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अयज्ञस्य" }, { "surface_form": "kutas", "lemma": "kutas", "grammar": "", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "कुतस्" }, { "surface_form": "anyaḥ", "lemma": "anya", "grammar": "nominative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "अन्यः" }, { "surface_form": "kurusattama", "lemma": "kurusattama", "grammar": "vocative masculine singular noun", "senses_attested_in_panel": [], "theme_lists": [], "surface_devanagari": "कुरुसत्तम" } ], "intertextual_panel": [ { "verse": "7.10", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.9084, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8484, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 12.7094, "stem_prefix": 5.0 } }, { "verse": "3.13", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.9062, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8289, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0865, "lemma_overlap": 16.0249, "stem_prefix": 6.0 } }, { "verse": "13.12", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.902, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.862, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 7.1046, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "4.40", "type": "lemma-family resonance", "score": 0.8978, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8478, "theme_graph": 0.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 13.1651, "stem_prefix": 5.0 } }, { "verse": "2.72", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8976, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8476, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 8.3023, "stem_prefix": 4.0 } }, { "verse": "4.24", "type": "cross-chapter thematic parallel", "score": 0.8945, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8645, "theme_graph": 2.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 3.0233, "stem_prefix": 1.0 } }, { "verse": "17.14", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.8937, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8537, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 3.0042, "stem_prefix": 3.0 } }, { "verse": "17.24", "type": "long-distance thematic echo", "score": 0.8929, "feature_breakdown": { "cosine": 0.8429, "theme_graph": 1.0, "vocative": 0.0, "substring": 0.0, "lemma_overlap": 8.6259, "stem_prefix": 4.0 } } ], "doctrinal_projections": { "advaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "shankara_4.31", "anandgiri_4.31" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Those who eat the nectar-remainder of yajña (sacrifice) — performing the enjoined rites and subsisting on only what remains after the offering — reach the eternal Brahman; this world itself, available to all creatures, does not exist for the one who performs no yajña, let alone any higher realm. Śaṅkara reads 'yajña-śiṣṭa-amṛta' as food that is literally 'nectar-named' (amṛtākhya) because it has been consecrated through proper ritual; the mokṣa-seeking aspirant reaches sanātana Brahman through this discipline. Where even common worldly existence is forfeited by the ayajña (one without sacrifice), the attainment of a higher realm — achievable only by special means — is manifestly impossible.", "divergence_note": "Śaṅkara's bhāṣya explicit: 'yathāvidhicoditam annam amṛtākhyaṃ bhuñjate' — the food enjoined by scripture is 'named nectar'; and 'sanātanaṃ cirantanaṃ' confirms timeless Brahman as the destination for the mumukṣu." }, "viśiṣṭādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "ramanuja_4.31", "vedantadeshika_4.31" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Sustaining the body only with the nectar-remnant of sacrifice — never eating independently of ritual — those engaged in karma-yoga reach the eternal Brahman. For the one who abandons mahāyajña and the obligatory nitya-naimittika rites, not even this natural world yields the puruṣārthas of dharma, artha, and kāma; mokṣa — the supreme puruṣārtha currently under discussion — is then utterly unthinkable. Rāmānuja distinguishes 'this world' (prākṛta-loka) from the supreme goal: since mokṣa is the topic, worldly attainments are themselves called 'this world' (ayaṃ lokaḥ), marking how far the ayajña falls short.", "divergence_note": "Rāmānuja's bhāṣya specifies 'mahāyajñādipūrvakanityanaimittikakarmārahitasya' — one devoid of mahāyajña and obligatory rites — and distinguishes prākṛta-loka from mokṣa-phalа precisely because mokṣa is 'prastatutvāt' (currently introduced)." }, "dvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhva_4.31", "jayatirtha_4.31" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "*Yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujaḥ* (those who eat the nectar-remnant of sacrifice) *yānti brahma sanātanam* (go to the eternal Brahman). One who performs no sacrifice has no footing in this world — *nāyaṃ loko 'sty ayajñasya* — still less in any other, *kuto 'nyaḥ kurusattama*.\n\nMadhva reads 4.30–4.31 jointly. The *niyatāhāra* (regulated-diet) practitioner accomplishes the *prāṇa*-offering through *prāṇaśoṣāt* — the very drying-up, the thinning of the *prāṇa*-streams that results from sparse eating — whereby the motions of the sense-faculties (*indriyavṛttīnām vṛttimattvindriyeṣu saṅkocāt*) are contracted back into those same faculties. The offering is thus internal: *prāṇān prāṇeṣu juhvati*. A second mode, drawn from Kaṭha 3.13, proceeds by speech and mind: *yacchedvāṅmanasī prājñaḥ* — the wise one should restrain speech into mind, then mind into the higher controlling deity. Jayatīrtha specifies that on this reading *niyatāhāra* stands as a *pṛthak yajña* (a separate sacrifice), distinct from the *prāṇa-prāṇa* offering of the preceding verse. A third warrant is cited from an independent śruti: *yad asyālpāśanaṃ tena prāṇāḥ prāṇeṣu vai hutāḥ* — sparse eating itself constitutes the *prāṇa*-oblation. By any of these modes the *paratantra* *jīva* (eternally dependent individual self), distinct by *bheda* (real distinction) from *svatantra* (the independently real) Hari, attains *brahma sanātanam* not through dissolution but through the grace secured by unbroken, disciplined worship. The one who abandons even this minimal restraint has no *loka* here, none elsewhere.", "divergence_note": "The contaminated cell's divergence note flagged that Madhva does not comment on the *sanātana*-Brahman destination separately, attributing the point to inference from his broader doctrinal scheme. The source bhāṣya, however, does ground the destination implicitly in the joint 4.30–4.31 passage: *yānti brahma sanātanam* is the mūla's own conclusion, and Madhva's citation of *yad asyālpāśanaṃ tena prāṇāḥ prāṇeṣu vai hutāḥ* along with Kaṭha 3.13 supplies the sacrificial mechanism leading there. Jayatīrtha further disambiguates the two modes — *niyatāhāra* as *pṛthak yajña* versus the *prāṇa-prāṇa* offering — which the contaminated cell collapsed into one. No supplementary inference beyond the bhāṣya is required." }, "śuddhādvaita": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "vallabha_4.31" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Those of regulated diet — withholding food-excess so that the āhāra-vṛttis (food-tendencies) themselves are dissolved into the prāṇas — are yajña-knowers who eat the nectar-remainder as their adhikāra (sanctioned portion), and thus reach sanātana Brahman directly or through a succession of means. Vallabha's reading insists that both the saṃyatāhāra (dietary restraint) and the yajña-śiṣṭa represent Kṛṣṇa's prasāda — accepting nothing outside one's rightful offering converts even eating into a form of līlā-participation. The one who refuses all yajña loses even 'this body of slight bliss' (ayam alpānando loko deho vā), let alone the divine realm.", "divergence_note": "Vallabha's joint gloss (4.30-4.31) specifies 'āhāratarpaṇaprāṇān eva vṛttīḥ prāṇeṣu vilāpayanti' and reads 'ayam alpānando loko deho vā ayajñasya na bhavati' — interpreting 'this world' as 'this body of slight joy', tightening the consequence of yajña-neglect to the embodied state itself." }, "bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "sridhara_4.31" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Having performed the sacrifices, one eats only the unrestricted food remaining after the rite — food that is in the form of nectar (amṛta-rūpa) — and through this practice they attain sanātana Brahman by the doorway of jñāna (vijñāna-dvāreṇa). Śrīdhara stresses that the consequence of neglect is vivid: even this world with its slight joys (alpasukhā api manuṣyaloka) is denied to the ayajña — one who is empty of sacrificial observance — so how much more is the other world forfeited? Therefore yajñas are to be performed by all means.", "divergence_note": "Śrīdhara's bhāṣya reads 'yajñānkṛtvāvaśiṣṭe kāle aniṣiddham annam amṛtarūpaṃ bhuñjate' and adds 'jñānadvāreṇa prāpnuvanti' — making jñāna the proximate means. His closing injunction 'yajñāḥ sarvathā kartavyāḥ' gives the bhakti-philological voice its practical, universal imperative." }, "advaita-bhakti": { "reading_summary": "(reading summary extraction pending; ENABLE_READING_SUMMARIES=true to generate)", "key_cross_references": [], "witness_passages": [ "madhusudan_4.31" ], "score": 0.5, "english_rendering": "Having stated the positive fruit (anvaya) of yajña in the prior half, Madhusūdana now isolates the negative (vyatireka) for the one who lacks even a single yajña from among all those described: even this world of slight joy (alpasukha api manuṣyaloka) does not exist for the ayajña, since he is universally censurable (sarvanindyatva); how then could the other world — attainable only by superior means — be within reach? The synthesis of Advaita and Kṛṣṇa-bhakti in Madhusūdana means that 'ayajña' carries a double deficiency: absence of jñāna-purification and absence of devotional surrender.", "divergence_note": "Madhusūdana's bhāṣya explicitly structures the verse as anvaya-vyatireka: 'evam anvaye guṇam uktvā vyatireke doṣam āha ardhena' — 'having stated the merit in the positive case, the fault in the negative case is stated by the half-verse.' His phrase 'sarvanindyatva' is the key interpretive addition." } }, "prosodic_information": { "meter": "anuṣṭubh", "meter_shift_from_previous": false, "meter_shift_to_next": false, "pragmatic_context": { "vocative": "Kurusattama", "preceding_question": "", "following_response": "" } }, "theme_list_memberships": [ { "list": "ब्रह्म", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "1.1", "2.72", "3.14", "3.15", "4.21", "4.24", "4.25", "4.32", "5.6", "5.10", "5.19", "5.20", "5.21", "5.24", "5.25", "5.26", "6.14", "6.27", "6.28", "6.38", "6.44", "7.29", "8.1", "8.3", "8.11", "8.13", "8.16", "8.17", "8.24", "10.12", "11.15", "11.37", "13.4", "13.12", "13.30", "14.3", "14.4", "14.26", "14.27", "17.14", "17.23", "17.24", "18.42", "18.50", "18.53", "18.54" ] }, { "list": "यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनम्", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "4.32" ] }, { "list": "सनातन", "role": "supporting", "other_verses_in_list": [ "1.40", "2.20", "2.24", "7.10", "8.20", "11.18", "15.7" ] } ], "audit_trail": { "substrate_version": "v2.6-frozen", "fitted_weights": { "a": 1.0, "b": 0.01, "e_v": 0.005, "z": 0.2, "h": 0.0, "th": 0.01 }, "corpus_provenance": { "mūla": "Belvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness", "panel_witnesses": [ "bg-mula", "bg-shankara", "bg-ramanuja", "bg-madhva", "bg-vedantadeshika", "bg-vallabha", "bg-jayatirtha", "bg-anandgiri", "bg-sridhara", "bg-madhusudan" ] }, "extraction_date": "2026-04-21", "score_methodology_documented_at": "Paper 1, Section II.B", "word_by_word_parser": "ByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)", "post_generation_repairs": [ { "date": "2026-05-03", "fix": "verb-lemma-misidentification (broader heuristic: prefix-√root canonical for all verb-tagged tokens)", "scope": "word_by_word[].lemma", "loci": [ "śiṣṭa: śās -> √śās", "yānti: yā -> √yā", "asti: as -> √as" ] } ] }, "so_what_questions": [ "Why does Kṛṣṇa frame the consequence of neglecting yajña as the loss of 'this world' first — before any higher world — rather than simply threatening the loss of mokṣa? What does this ordering reveal about the verse's intended audience?", "Six schools read 'sanātana Brahman' as the destination, yet they mean radically different things by it: identity (Advaita), qualified union (Viśiṣṭādvaita), permanent distinction (Dvaita), prasāda-participation (Śuddhādvaita). Does the verse's Sanskrit settle this, or is the divergence itself evidence of bounded polysemy at work?", "Śaṅkara and Śrīdhara both gloss 'amṛta' as the quality of the food, not a metaphor for immortality-as-Brahman. Madhusūdana's anvaya-vyatireka structure suggests the 'amṛta' already contains the Brahman-destination. Which reading best accounts for the compound 'yajña-śiṣṭa-amṛta-bhujaḥ' as a single tatpuruṣa?", "Madhva joins verses 4.30 and 4.31 and introduces a śruti not cited by any other commentator ('yad asyālpāśanaṃ...'). What does this tell us about how Dvaita handles scriptural authority when bhāṣya scope and verse-boundary diverge?", "Vallabha reads 'ayaṃ lokaḥ' as 'this body of slight bliss' rather than 'this world of mortals.' What hermeneutic principle permits this move, and does it strengthen or weaken the verse's practical urgency for a Puṣṭi-mārga practitioner?", "All six commentators interpret 'ayajñasya' as an absolute privation — the one with no yajña at all. None reads it as 'one with deficient yajña.' Does the absoluteness of the negative case tell us something about the verse's rhetorical function in the Gītā's karma-yoga argument at this point?", "Rāmānuja specifies nitya-naimittika (obligatory periodic) rites as the minimum threshold for 'this world'; Śaṅkara sets the bar at any one of the enjoined yajñas. For a contemporary practitioner, how would each school map this threshold onto non-Vedic forms of disciplined offering?" ], "everyday_applications": { "advaita": "Treat every meal as prasāda: eat only what remains after you have offered your work, attention, and resources to a purpose larger than personal appetite. The Śaṅkaran principle is that niṣkāma action purifies the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) for jñāna; so in practice, maintain one daily discipline — even a brief sandhyā (twilight recitation) or conscious offering of the first portion — as the structural act that converts consumption into consecration. Where this discipline is entirely absent, even ordinary flourishing becomes unstable, because the self that would enjoy prosperity has no purified ground to stand on.", "viśiṣṭādvaita": "Keep the body as a vehicle of service — 'yajña-śiṣṭa-amṛta-bhuj' means body-maintenance in the mode of kainkarya (service) to Bhagavān, not self-nourishment as an end. Practically: before each meal, acknowledge the meal as the Lord's provision for your continued service, and identify one concrete act of service that meal will fuel. Rāmānuja's point that even dharma, artha, and kāma are forfeited by the one without ritual discipline means that worldly goals pursued without this frame of dedicated service tend to collapse — not from divine punishment but from the inner incoherence of disconnected striving.", "dvaita": "Regulate quantity before quality: Madhva's prāṇa-yajña principle — 'sparse eating is itself the offering of prāṇas into prāṇas' — is a direct instruction for reduced, intentional consumption. Choose one meal each day to eat significantly less than appetite demands, framing the restraint explicitly as an offering to Hari. The Dvaita insistence that the jīva is always dependent (paratantra) on Hari means that self-regulated eating is not asceticism for its own sake but a daily enactment of ontological humility: the body is Hari's instrument, not yours to indulge.", "śuddhādvaita": "Vallabha's reading that 'this body of slight bliss' is what is at stake makes the application bodily and immediate: the grace (puṣṭi) that sustains even ordinary physical wellbeing flows through Kṛṣṇa's prasāda-economy. In practice this means receiving all food as Kṛṣṇa's prasāda — not as a metaphor but as a structural fact of the Puṣṭi-mārga — and noticing when eating has slipped into a purely self-referential act. The loss Vallabha names is not abstract: even slight physical flourishing is said to depart where the prasāda-frame is entirely abandoned.", "bhakti": "Śrīdhara's closing injunction — 'yajñāḥ sarvathā kartavyāḥ' (sacrifices are to be performed by all means) — is pragmatically universal. The application is to identify what form of 'yajña' is available in your actual life-situation and to perform it without exception. For a gṛhastha (householder), this could be the five mahāyajñas in abbreviated daily form; for a professional, it could be offering the first portion of one's earnings, time, or skill to a communal or devotional purpose. Śrīdhara's 'jñāna-dvāreṇa' note adds that the yajña disciplines eventually become the doorway to understanding — the practice is not a substitute for knowledge but its preparation.", "advaita-bhakti": "Madhusūdana's 'sarvanindyatva' — universal censurability of the ayajña — points to the social and relational dimension: a life without any form of offering is censurable not only metaphysically but in the eyes of any community of practice. The synthesis application is to maintain both: an inner non-attachment that does not grasp at results (Advaita) and an outer devotional act that enacts surrender to Kṛṣṇa (bhakti). In contemporary terms, this might mean pairing a daily meditation that loosens identity with action (jñāna-side) with a specific committed service or giving practice that is unconditional (bhakti-side) — neither is dispensable, because Madhusūdana will not let you collapse one into the other." }, "primary_meaning": "Those who eat what remains after sacrifice reach the eternal Brahman; even this world is closed to one who performs no sacrifice, let alone any higher realm." }