BG 3.15 — Karma-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 3.15Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भवं विद्धि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भवम् ।

तस्मात् सर्वगतं ब्रह्म नित्यं यज्ञे प्रतिष्ठितम् ॥

karma brahmodbhavaṃ viddhi brahmākṣara-samudbhavam

tasmāt sarva-gataṃ brahma nityaṃ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

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

meaning

Know that action arises from the Veda, and the Veda from the imperishable; therefore the all-pervading brahma is forever grounded in sacrifice.

ekras · bhāṣya

The chain that ran from beings → food → rain → yajna → karma now finds its source. Karma, the verse says, comes from brahma, where brahma here means the Veda — the shastra that authorizes and prescribes the action. And the Veda itself comes from the akshara — the imperishable Paramatman — breathed forth the way a man breathes, without volition. The cosmic chain therefore has no human starting-point. Even the discipline of action that the worldly man performs is rooted in something not made by humans.

Ramanuja gives a different glossing: the body through which karma is performed is itself a transformation of brahma understood as Prakriti. He cites BG 14.3 — mama yonir mahad-brahma — my source is the great-brahma. Either reading lands the same conclusion: karma is not freelance human invention. It rests on a cosmic substrate that itself rests on the imperishable.

Madhusudana sharpens it at the apurva level: karma produces apurva — the unseen ritual potency — only when it is brahma-udbhava, sourced from the Veda, not from pashanda-shastra (heterodox texts). The Veda's unique authority comes from being akshara-samudbhava. The verse closes 3.10-3.15 — the cosmological argument for karma — by showing that yajna is not one human practice among many. It is the structural pratishtha of brahma itself in this world, the place where the imperishable and the everyday meet.

Context

where

Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 3.14

Living beings arise from food, food arises from rain, rain arises from ritual offering, and ritual offering arises from action.

What's going on

Know that action arises from the Veda, and the Veda from the imperishable; therefore the all-pervading brahma is forever grounded in sacrifice.

Sūtras through this verse (73)

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

3.1Self in chapter two; sādhana opens here.───→here3.15───→4.1Three blocks named at the chapter head.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

3.4Mere not-doing is not renunciation at all.───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

show all 73

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedstation · anchor

───→here3.15───→

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablestation · anchor

───→here3.15───→

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsstation

───→here3.15───→

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

───→here3.15───→

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥstation

───→here3.15───→

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind───→here3.15───→3.30Offer all your acts

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

3.4Naishkarmya is not just non-doing───→here3.15───→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───→here3.15───→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───→here3.15───→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,───→here3.15───→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───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→5.2Each path bears fruit by its own working.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentbetween

3.3Two populations, two distinct paths.───→here3.15───→5.6Renunciation is hard without yoga first.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

3.4Brāhmaṇas seek the Self by Veda, then by rite.───→here3.15───→4.13The four orders are the Puruṣa's own body.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

2.50Nanu opens, smṛti runs nine deep.───→here3.15───→3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.───→here3.15───→5.1Two chapters settled action and knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

3.3Arjuna's mixed question gets a sorted answer.───→here3.15───→5.1Not combined, not optional; distributed by fitness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

2.47The unready can only act, not yet know.───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→3.30Offer all your acts; fight without fruit-claim.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

3.1The grand architecture cannot mix the two.───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here3.15───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here3.15───→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

───→here3.15───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here3.15───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here3.15───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here3.15───→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───→here3.15───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

3.3Three classes, one niṣṭhā each.───→here3.15───→5.1Every clause tagged jñāna or karma.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

3.3Three classes, each its own niṣṭhā.───→here3.15───→5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.───→here3.15───→5.1Recap-then-question becomes the rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

3.3Vaidika action sorted by life-stage rule.───→here3.15───→4.18Action-in-inaction needs the typology.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

3.4No mokṣa from mere non-starting.───→here3.15───→4.18Action-in-inaction: the upādhi seen. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.───→here3.15───→7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

3.3One path, two grades: impure, then pure mind.───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→3.37One enemy alone: desire, only desire.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

2.47Even renouncing has three flavors.───→here3.15───→3.27The modes act, ego claims to do.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

2.33Refusal is not safe; it costs everything.───→here3.15───→3.35Your own flawed work beats another's perfect.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here3.15───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here3.15───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here3.15───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here3.15───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here3.15───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spineapproach

───→here3.15───→5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here3.15───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here3.15───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

3.3Two paths, named───→here3.15───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

2.63Anger to ruin───→here3.15───→3.37Kāma is the enemy

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.───→here3.15───→3.30Drop the fruit, the mine, the doership — keep the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.───→here3.15───→4.1Four-verse prelude names avatāra-līlā.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.───→here3.15───→3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here3.15───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here3.15───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here3.15───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here3.15───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here3.15───→

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

3.9Sacrifice-frame frees the act.───→here3.15───→3.30Surrender every act.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here3.15───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

3.3Two paths, one orientation toward Me.───→here3.15───→3.30Karma offered to the indweller becomes worship.

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

───→here3.15───→5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here3.15───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here3.15───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here3.15───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→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.───→here3.15───→3.20Even Janaka acted; the wise still do.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here3.15───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here3.15───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here3.15───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 14 occurrences)

ब्रह्म brahman ×3 — Brahman (the Absolute); also: the Veda; sacred utterance · compound / accusative neuter singular noun / nominative neuter singular noun · also at 1.1, 2.72, 3.14, 4.21, 4.24, 4.25 +40
यज्ञे yajña — sacrifice, worship, ritual offering · locative masculine singular noun
कर्म karman — action, deed, the law of action · accusative neuter singular noun
प्रतिष्ठितम् prati-√ṣṭhā — foundation, support, established position (prati- + √sthā) · nominative neuter singular participle noun
विद्धि √vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · present imperative 2nd person singular verb · also at 2.17, 3.32, 4.13, 4.14, 4.32, 4.34 +16

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उद्भवम् udbhava — origin, arising (ud- + bhava, from √bhū) · accusative neuter singular noun
अक्षर akṣara — imperishable (a- + kṣara, from √kṣar 'flow/perish'); syllable; the Imperishable (Brahman) · compound
समुद्भवम् samudbhava — origin (sam- + ud- 'up' + √bhū 'become') · accusative neuter singular noun
तस्मात् tasmāt — therefore, from that · also at 2.30, 2.68, 3.19, 3.41, 4.15, 4.42 +5
सर्व sarva — all, entire · compound
गतम् √gam — to go (verbal root) · nominative neuter singular participle noun
नित्यम् nityam — constantly, always, eternally (from nitya)

Praśna · so what (7)

01If karma (action) is born of the Veda and the Veda from the akṣara (imperishable), does an action performed outside Vedic injunction carry any moral weight at all — or does it simply dissolve without effect?
02Rāmānuja reads brahma as Prakṛti and akṣara as jīvātman — making the verse about embodied agency rather than scriptural authority. Which reading is more consistent with the surrounding context of BG 3.10–16?

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03Madhva insists Brahman is only 'revealed' (abhivyakta) through eternal Vedic letters, never produced by them. What is at stake philosophically if Brahman were genuinely 'produced' by something prior to it?
04All schools agree yajña (sacrifice/action) is the locus where this cosmic chain terminates. Does this make yajña an end, a means, or an ontological ground — and does the answer differ by school?
05Madhusūdana deploys this verse against pāṣaṇḍa (heterodox) traditions. Is his polemical use of the verse a legitimate extension of the original meaning, or is it an external-vector collapse (Tilak-type) that distorts bounded polysemy?
06Vallabha links akṣara to the Praṇava (Oṃ). How does grounding karma in the Praṇava differ, in practical terms, from grounding it in the Veda-as-text versus Brahman-as-person?
07The chain 'akṣara → brahma (Veda/Prakṛti) → karma → yajña' is presented as establishing why all action must be surrendered. Does the chain work equally well in all six interpretations, or does it break down in one of them?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before undertaking any significant action, verify that it is sanctioned by an authoritative source that is not merely your own desire or social consensus. For the Advaitin, 'brahma-born' action means action grounded in śāstra (scripture/tradition) — not improvised ethics. In daily life: when facing a moral dilemma, trace the authority chain. If the justification ends at 'I feel it is right,' that is kāma-born karma, not brahma-born karma. Āsana, prāṇāyāma, or meditation practice becomes brahma-born only when it follows a paramparā (lineage), not a YouTube tutorial.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Recognize that your body itself — the instrument of every action — is Prakṛti animated by the jīvātman (individual self), which is a mode of Brahman. This means every mundane act — cooking, cleaning, working — is already yajña-shaped if offered to Bhagavān. The Viśiṣṭādvaita practitioner does not retreat from embodied life to find brahman; they treat the body's appetites (food, rest, work) as Prakṛti's yajña-fuel. The practical implication: no action is too 'low' to be sacred when the body is understood as brahma-born.

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Dvaita

You are not the ultimate author of your actions — Hari is the inner impeller (antaryāmin). For the Dvaitin, this verse is a daily reminder of jīva-dependence: take credit for neither your virtuous acts nor your failures in the deepest sense. The practical posture is immediate referral — before, during, and after action, acknowledge 'eṣa hi enam sādhu karma kārayati' (He alone makes me do virtuous action). This is not passivity; it is the specific humility that prevents both pride after success and despair after failure.

Śuddhādvaita

Every act of worship — even the smallest domestic ritual — participates in the cosmic yajña that is Viṣṇu's own body. For the Puṣṭi-mārga devotee, lighting a lamp, preparing prasāda, or singing a pada is not symbolic action pointing to something else; it is a literal fragment of the sacrifice that constitutes Kṛṣṇa's form. The everyday application: treat domestic seva (service) as cosmologically serious. The Praṇava (Oṃ) is embedded in every utterance of Kṛṣṇa's name — chant it as if you are touching the akṣara-root of all karma.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's dual reading offers a practical principle: use yajña (selfless action, pūjā, service) as the upāya (means) toward para-brahman, just as consistent effort is the ground on which Lakṣmī abides. Do not perform ritual for its own sake alone, nor skip it in favor of 'direct' devotion — the Veda's tātparya (ultimate purpose) is established in yajña, meaning the text and the act together constitute the path. In contemporary terms: maintain a regular practice (japa, pūjā, seva) as the discipline through which the goal becomes accessible, not as a substitute for it.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's anti-pāṣaṇḍa emphasis translates into a practical discernment discipline: regularly audit the sources that authorize your behavior — teachers, communities, texts, platforms. If a practice cannot be traced to a lineage that emerges from the apauruṣeya (trans-personal) rather than from individual charisma or market demand, treat it with epistemic caution. This is not orthodoxy for its own sake; it is the Advaitin-bhakta's way of protecting the mind from being colonized by 'karma' that is merely desire dressed as dharma.

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 15: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga