BG 3.13 — Karma-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 3.13Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · other

यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः । भुञ्जते ते त्वघं पापा ये पचन्त्यात्मकारणात् ॥

yajñaśiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarvakilbiṣaiḥ

bhuñjate te tvaghaṃ pāpā ye pacantyātmakāraṇāt

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Those who eat what remains after sacrifice are freed from all sin, but those who cook only for themselves eat transgression itself.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names two stations on either side of the same act. "Those who eat the yajna-shishta — the remainder of sacrifice — are freed from all kilbishas. Those who cook only atma-karanat — for their own sake — eat agha — sin itself." The same act of eating. Two completely different karmic shapes. The yajna-shishtashin eats what is left over after the offering has been made. The food has passed through the yajna; what reaches the plate is amrita, no longer mere material. Eating it purifies. Specifically, Shankara names what it purifies: the kilbishas of panca-suna — the five inevitable household violences (grinding, pounding, hearth, water-pot, broom) by which the householder unintentionally takes life every day. The yajna-shishta cleans those traces. The other man — the one who cooks atma-karanat, only for himself — eats agha. Sin itself. Not just a small infraction; what reaches his plate has not passed through the offering and remains structurally his to bear.

Madhusudana extends the reading in two movements. On the positive side: those who eat yajna-shishta are participating in the cosmic order, and the system feeds them in turn. On the contrastive side: those who cook only for themselves have isolated their action from the order; what they consume runs solely on their own karmic account. The verse is therefore not a moral exhortation about generosity. It is a structural statement about the karmic shape of the same physical act, depending on what it has been embedded in. Two men eat the same food. The food does different things on each plate.

Context

where

Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · meter other

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 3.12

The gods, nourished by your sacrifices, will grant you the pleasures you seek; whoever enjoys what they give without offering back to them is a thief.

What's going on

Those who eat what remains after sacrifice are freed from all sin, but those who cook only for themselves eat transgression itself.

Sūtras through this verse (73)

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

2.72Old-age renunciation is off topic here.───→here3.13───→3.15He refutes by saying na ca.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

3.4Mere not-doing is not renunciation at all.───→here3.13───→5.13Lay down all acts in mind; sit at ease, body free.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here3.13───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

show all 73

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind───→here3.13───→3.30Offer all your acts

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

3.4Naishkarmya is not just non-doing───→here3.13───→5.13Nine-gated city, all karma laid down

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

3.5'Na hi kashchit kshanam api jatu tishthaty akarma-krit.' No one stays inactive e───→here3.13───→3.21'Yad yad acharati shreshthas tat tad evetaro janah.' Whatever the leader does, o

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handbetween

2.50Thumb. Kausalam. 'Yogah karmasu kausalam' is the line Gaurav opens the whole mne───→here3.13───→3.27Palm, kartala. Akartritva, non-doership. 'Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani s

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

2.22'Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya' — body as worn-out clothes. Sister verse to 2.13,───→here3.13───→3.27Karma pillar. The 'ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate' line is where Gaura

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm───→here3.13───→5.4'Sankhya-yogau prithag balah pravadanti na panditah.' Only the immature say sank

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

3.3Two paths for two kinds — never combined.───→here3.13───→5.2Each path bears fruit by its own working.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentbetween

3.3Two populations, two distinct paths.───→here3.13───→5.6Renunciation is hard without yoga first.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

3.4Brāhmaṇas seek the Self by Veda, then by rite.───→here3.13───→4.13The four orders are the Puruṣa's own body.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

3.1Self in chapter two; sādhana opens here.───→here3.13───→4.1Three blocks named at the chapter head.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

3.4Both śruti and smṛti held in support.───→here3.13───→3.15Citation closes: ity āgamāt.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

2.50Nanu opens, smṛti runs nine deep.───→here3.13───→3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga literal, not external schools.───→here3.13───→3.15If literal works, figurative is idle.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥbetween

2.68Supply marks the chapter-seal gap.───→here3.13───→3.15Iti viṣṇoḥ iti śeṣaḥ supplies referent.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningbetween

3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.───→here3.13───→5.1Two chapters settled action and knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

3.3Arjuna's mixed question gets a sorted answer.───→here3.13───→5.1Not combined, not optional; distributed by fitness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

2.47The unready can only act, not yet know.───→here3.13───→3.30Even a seeker not-yet-pure offers, drops fruit-claim.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.───→here3.13───→3.30Offer all your acts; fight without fruit-claim.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

3.1The grand architecture cannot mix the two.───→here3.13───→4.34Approach a knower; knowing is not earned by action.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here3.13───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here3.13───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here3.13───→4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereapproach

───→here3.13───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here3.13───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here3.13───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here3.13───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here3.13───→4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here3.13───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

3.3Three classes, one niṣṭhā each.───→here3.13───→5.1Every clause tagged jñāna or karma.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

3.3Three classes, each its own niṣṭhā.───→here3.13───→5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.───→here3.13───→5.1Recap-then-question becomes the rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

3.3Vaidika action sorted by life-stage rule.───→here3.13───→4.18Action-in-inaction needs the typology.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

3.4No mokṣa from mere non-starting.───→here3.13───→4.18Action-in-inaction: the upādhi seen. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.───→here3.13───→7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

3.3One path, two grades: impure, then pure mind.───→here3.13───→4.39Faith earns knowing; work readies that faith.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

2.71The steady seer walks with no want, no mine.───→here3.13───→3.37One enemy alone: desire, only desire.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

2.47Even renouncing has three flavors.───→here3.13───→3.27The modes act, ego claims to do.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

2.33Refusal is not safe; it costs everything.───→here3.13───→3.35Your own flawed work beats another's perfect.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here3.13───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here3.13───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here3.13───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here3.13───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here3.13───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spineapproach

───→here3.13───→5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here3.13───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here3.13───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

3.3Two paths, named───→here3.13───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

2.63Anger to ruin───→here3.13───→3.37Kāma is the enemy

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.───→here3.13───→3.30Drop the fruit, the mine, the doership — keep the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.───→here3.13───→4.1Four-verse prelude names avatāra-līlā.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.───→here3.13───→3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here3.13───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here3.13───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here3.13───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here3.13───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here3.13───→

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

3.9Sacrifice-frame frees the act.───→here3.13───→3.30Surrender every act.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here3.13───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

3.3Two paths, one orientation toward Me.───→here3.13───→3.30Karma offered to the indweller becomes worship.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)approach

───→here3.13───→5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here3.13───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here3.13───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here3.13───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here3.13───→4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

3.1Knowing versus acting is the wrong cut.───→here3.13───→7.1Together they cover everything to be known.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

2.20The soul is conscious but only as reflection.───→here3.13───→3.27Action is the modes'; the soul only seems to act.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

3.4If non-action freed, plants would already be free.───→here3.13───→3.20Even Janaka acted; the wise still do.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here3.13───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here3.13───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here3.13───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

Śabda · lemmas (17 unique · 18 occurrences)

मुच्यन्ते √muc — to release, free (verbal root) · present indicative pass 3rd person plural verb
भुञ्जते √bhuj — to enjoy, eat, experience (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person plural verb
किल्बिषैः kilbiṣa — sin, stain, defilement · instrumental neuter plural noun

show all 17

ये yad ×2 — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine plural noun
पुनर् punar — again, once more
यज्ञ yajña — sacrifice, worship, ritual offering · compound
शिष्ट śiṣṭa — instructed, learned, cultured (past-pple. of √śās) · compound
आशिनः āśin — eating, consuming (from √aś + -in) · nominative masculine plural noun
सन्तः sat — being, true, real; the existent (present participle of √as) · nominative masculine plural noun
सर्व sarva — all, entire · compound
ते tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine plural noun
तु tu — but, on the other hand (particle)
अघम् agha — sin, evil · accusative neuter singular noun
पापाः pāpa — sin, evil, demerit · nominative masculine plural noun
पचन्ति √pac — to cook, ripen (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person plural verb
आत्म ātman — the Self, soul; one's own self · compound
कारणात् kāraṇa — cause, reason · ablative neuter singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If even the household grinding-stone and cooking-fire generate unavoidable kilbiṣa (sin), what does this say about whether there is any 'clean' life possible outside ritual reframing of ordinary acts?
02Rāmānuja says the sin specifically obstructs ātma-yāthātmya-avalokana (vision of the self's true nature) — does sin function here as an epistemological block rather than a moral stain, and what follows from that distinction?

show all 7

03Vallabha collapses the gap between ritual and svarūpa (divine form): if the yajña IS Bhagavān, what is the soteriological difference between a Puṣṭi practitioner eating prasāda and a Śaṅkara Advaitin eating yajña-śiṣṭa?
04Madhusūdana's double-sin analysis suggests that omitting an obligatory rite is worse than committing an unavoidable sin — what is the implicit theory of agency and responsibility that underlies this accounting?
05All six schools agree that cooking exclusively for ātman (self) is the paradigm case of agha (sin) — is this primarily a critique of the consuming self, the non-offering act, or the severing of relational obligation?
06The verse sets up a binary (yajña-śiṣṭa eaters vs. self-cookers) but Madhusūdana expands this to a temporal dimension (past sins, future sins, omission sins) — does the verse's logic apply only to ritual acts or to any act that could be offered but is not?
07Given that the pañca-sūnā are structural features of householder life and not chosen transgressions, what does this verse imply about the relationship between social role, unavoidable harm, and the role of ritual as a technology of moral accounting?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before each meal, frame the act of eating as completing a sequence that began with an offering — even a simple one. This is not superstition but a structural move: it reminds the practitioner that the self who eats is not the isolated ātman but a node in a network of obligation. The Advaita practitioner uses this as niṣkāma-karma (desireless action) training: cook, offer, receive — and notice that the 'I who eats' is already less solid than it seemed.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When preparing food, recognize the materials as given by the indwelling Lord present in every dimension of the supply chain. Cooking becomes a form of kainkarya (service), and eating its śiṣṭa (remainder) becomes darśana-in-miniature. Practically: pause before eating to acknowledge that this meal arrived through a chain of beings in whom Bhagavān is present — not as a formula but as a recalibration of what 'mine' means.

show all 6

Dvaita

The Dvaita practitioner treats every meal as a daily reminder of pāratantrya (radical dependence): I did not generate this food, I cannot sustain this body by will, I am entirely supported by Hari's grace. Eating without this acknowledgment is not just impiety — it is the re-enactment of the root error that keeps the jīva in saṃsāra (the cycle of rebirth). Daily practice: a brief explicit acknowledgment of dependence before eating, not as courtesy but as metaphysical precision.

Śuddhādvaita

In Puṣṭi-mārga households, food is first offered to Śrī Kṛṣṇa (offered in sevā to the svarūpa) before anyone eats — this is not an extra ritual atop ordinary eating but the recognition that eating prasāda is the only real eating. The everyday application is to make this offering genuinely, not mechanically: set aside a portion, offer it with attention, then eat what returns. The kilbiṣa dissolves not through your effort but through the contact with what is already the Lord's form.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's application is the most concrete: the householder is structurally implicated in violence through cooking (the pañca-sūnā). The remedy is structural too — build the vaiśvadeva offering into the cooking sequence itself, not as optional piety but as the act that transforms unavoidable harm into completed obligation. For a contemporary householder: at minimum, acknowledge the living things harmed in producing the meal, and make that acknowledgment a consistent practice rather than an occasional sentiment.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's double-sin analysis has a pointed practical implication: omitting a regular practice you have committed to is more accumulating than occasional lapses — the omission itself adds a layer. The contemporary application is the discipline of consistency in whatever daily practice (meditation, offering, study) one has adopted: irregular practice does not merely fail to help, it actively compounds the very thing it was meant to dissolve. Regularity is not perfectionism; it is the structural requirement for the rite's logic to function.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, Verse 13: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga