If the yoga-fire accepts offerings of sensory and vital acts, does the practitioner cease to see, hear, and breathe — or does the offering transform the quality of those acts without stopping them?

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/4/27.

Śaṅkara reads 'offer' as 'dissolve' (pralāpayanti); Rāmānuja reads it as 'redirect' (pravṛtti-nivāraṇa). Which metaphysics of action does each reading require, and can the Sanskrit of juhvati bear both?

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/4/27.

Madhusūdana distinguishes laya-samādhi (reversible, seed remains) from bādha-samādhi (irreversible, seed destroyed). What does it mean for a spiritual state to be 'irreversible'? Can effort create an irreversible state?

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/4/27.

Śrīdhara uniquely enumerates the five subsidiary prāṇas (nāga through dhanañjaya). Why would a devotional commentator include this physio-technical detail, and what does it suggest about the relationship between yogic anatomy and bhakti?

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/4/27.

Vallabha places this verse at the middle tier of three types of yajña-performers. What constitutes the highest tier in his reading, and does that ranking imply that dhyāna-niṣṭhā is ultimately transcended in Puṣṭi-mārga?

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/4/27.

The fire metaphor appears across all six readings, yet what is 'kindled' differs — viveka (Śaṅkara), manas-saṃyama (Rāmānuja), upāya (Madhva), dhyeya-jñāna (Vallabha and Śrīdhara), Vedānta-mahāvākya (Madhusūdana). Does the single image of 'fire' conceal five different accounts of how insight relates to restraint?

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/4/27.

If prāṇa-karmāṇi (vital-breath acts) are offered alongside indriya-karmāṇi, does the verse imply that even involuntary biological processes (breathing, circulation) are eventually brought within the scope of yogic discipline — and what are the ethical stakes of that claim?

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/4/27.

BG 4.27 — Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 4.27Chapter 4 · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

सर्वाणीन्द्रियकर्माणि प्राणकर्माणि चापरे ।

आत्मसंयमयोगाग्नौ जुह्वति ज्ञानदीपिते ॥

sarvāṇīndriya-karmāṇi prāṇa-karmāṇi cāpare

ātma-saṃyama-yogāgnau juhvati jñāna-dīpite

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

meaning

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names a deeper yajna of total inner offering. "Others offer all the actions of the indriyas, and all the actions of the pranas, into the fire of atma-samyama-yoga, lit by jnana." The offering this time is more comprehensive. Not just the indriyas; not just the vishayas; all the karmas of both. And alongside, all the karmas of the pranas — the vital breath movements, contraction and expansion. Everything the inner instrument and the body's life-force are doing — every micro-action of every faculty — is offered into a single fire. The fire here is named precisely. Atma-samyama-yoga-agni — the fire of the yoga of self-restraint. And the fire is jnana-dipita — kindled by knowledge. The image is layered. The yoga of self-restraint is what shapes the fire; jnana is what lights it. Without jnana, the samyama is mere suppression and produces no real burning; with jnana lighting it, the samyama becomes a true sacrificial fire that consumes what is offered.

Madhusudana presents this as badha-purvaka samadhi — absorption through sublation — superior to the laya-purvaka samadhi (Patanjali's absorption-through-dissolution) of the prior verse.

Vallabha names the dhyana-nishtha as the practitioner of this verse — one whose meditation has become continuous and whose dhyeya-vishayaka-jnana, knowledge of the meditation-object, lights the fire that consumes everything. Bhakti-reading: every act of every jnanendriya, every act of every karmendriya, every breath, becomes one continuous offering. Nothing is left to the ordinary economy of action and result.

Context

where

Chapter 4 · Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 4.26

Some offer the sense faculties into the fires of self-restraint; others offer sound and the rest of the sense-objects into the fires of the senses themselves.

What's going on

Others pour all the acts of the senses and vital breath into the fire of self-restraint, a fire lit by knowledge.

Sūtras through this verse (51)

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

4.9His acts are willed only to bless others.───→here4.27───→11.1By high compassion He showed the world-form.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseasebetween

2.69Ignorance is night, wisdom alone wakes.───→here4.27───→4.42Cut the heart's doubt with the sword of knowledge.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

4.24Every word for ritual points back to Viṣṇu.───→here4.27───→5.7'Self of all beings' just means the Lord.

show all 51

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

4.14Acts without clinging───→here4.27───→5.14Two tiers of rulership

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

4.6Avatāras differ in their fullness of Hari.───→here4.27───→6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

4.14He acts but does not cling to the act.───→here4.27───→5.14The Lord rules the modes; the soul rules the body.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

4.8Ṛgveda khilas explain the descent as play.───→here4.27───→6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.───→here4.27───→7.4Eight elements name the inert side of nature.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

4.25'Divine' just means the Lord, named indirectly.───→here4.27───→5.7'Self of all' resolves to the Lord himself.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

4.11However they come, I meet them so.───→here4.27───→7.16Four kinds of seekers, all good-hearted.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

3.3One path, two grades: impure, then pure mind.───→here4.27───→4.39Faith earns knowing; work readies that faith.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugebetween

4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.───→here4.27───→9.29Even to all — yet near to those who turn.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here4.27───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here4.27───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spineapproach

───→here4.27───→5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemybetween

4.18See not-doing in doing, doing in not-doing.───→here4.27───→5.13Body-self confusion is the only error.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

4.9My birth and acts are not of this world.───→here4.27───→7.14Divine illusion is hard to cross alone.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldbetween

4.18The post-knowledge actor does no action at all.───→here4.27───→5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

4.13The four orders are the Puruṣa's own body.───→here4.27───→15.1The world-tree is the tree of the Kaṭha.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

4.23Clinging to anything is what binds you.───→here4.27───→5.12Drop the wish for fruit, not the fruit itself.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

4.13The four orders are His own creation.───→here4.27───→18.41Each order's work is born of its nature.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

4.23Action's flagship verse: it dissolves itself.───→here4.27───→4.36Knowledge ferries you across the ocean.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here4.27───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here4.27───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartapproach

───→here4.27───→6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

4.18Action in inaction───→here4.27───→5.6Renunciation needs the path

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

4.16Even the wise are confused───→here4.27───→7.14Cross the maya

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I───→here4.27───→7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

4.8'Paritranaya sadhunam vinashaya cha dushkritam, dharma-samsthapana-arthaya sambh───→here4.27───→9.27Dharma-as-offering pillar. 'Yat karoshi yad ashnasi yaj juhoshi dadasi yat.' Gau

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

4.24Brahman the offering, Brahman the offerer.───→here4.27───→6.1The renouncer is the one who acts for Me.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.───→here4.27───→7.14Māyā is real wonder, not unreality.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.───→here4.27───→7.14Surrender alone crosses the māyā.

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlybetween

4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.───→here4.27───→9.4The Lord pervades all, yet stays untouched.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

4.1Four-verse prelude names avatāra-līlā.───→here4.27───→5.1Single-verse prelude sets sannyāsa-yoga eka.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractbetween

4.8A mother chastising her child is no cruelty.───→here4.27───→7.1The play-Person of every form opens chapter 7.

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourapproach · v2

───→here4.27───→6.10Solitary seat

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here4.27───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

RāmānujaclassicalC

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

───→here4.27───→5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here4.27───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here4.27───→

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here4.27───→

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

4.1Three blocks named at the chapter head.───→here4.27───→6.1Karma-yoga is outer; samādhi-yoga inner.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

4.11Mām is Viṣṇu, not generic absolute.───→here4.27───→7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.───→here4.27───→7.21Other deities give what Viṣṇu permits.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

4.18Action-in-inaction needs the typology.───→here4.27───→5.1Body-residue karma vs. fruit-bearing karma.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhibetween

4.18Action-in-inaction: the upādhi seen. Anchor.───→here4.27───→5.13All actions renounced by mind alone.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.───→here4.27───→7.24Failure of seeing, not absence of presence.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departurebetween

4.13Four orders made by the one who stays equal.───→here4.27───→9.4He pervades, yet is not in any of it.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionbetween

4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.───→here4.27───→9.22Yoga-kṣemam: the Lord's work, not the seeker's caste.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

3.30Karma offered to the indweller becomes worship.───→here4.27───→4.33Knowledge-rite outranks mere material rites.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

3.1The grand architecture cannot mix the two.───→here4.27───→4.34Approach a knower; knowing is not earned by action.

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 14 occurrences)

कर्माणि karman ×2 — action, deed, the law of action · accusative neuter plural noun · also at 1.1, 2.48, 3.26, 3.27, 3.30, 4.14 +12
जुह्वति √hu — to offer oblation, sacrifice (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person plural verb
दीपिते √dīpay — to kindle, illuminate (caus. of √dīp) · locative masculine singular participle noun

show all 13

सर्वाणि sarva — all, entire · accusative neuter plural noun
इन्द्रिय indriya — sense, sense-organ; the eleven indriyas (5 jñānendriyas + 5 karmendriyas + manas) · compound
प्राण prāṇa — vital breath, life-energy; the prāṇas (vital airs) · compound · also at 1.1, 1.33, 4.29, 4.30, 5.27, 5.28 +5
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
अपरे apara — other, later; lower, secondary · nominative masculine plural noun
आत्म ātman — the Self, soul; one's own self · compound
संयम saṃyama — restraint, control (sam- + √yam) · compound
योग yoga — yoga; union, discipline, application · compound
अग्नौ agni — fire; the fire-god Agni · locative masculine singular noun
ज्ञान jñāna — knowledge, wisdom, cognition · compound · also at 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.26, 3.32 +70

Praśna · so what (7)

01If the yoga-fire accepts offerings of sensory and vital acts, does the practitioner cease to see, hear, and breathe — or does the offering transform the quality of those acts without stopping them?
02Śaṅkara reads 'offer' as 'dissolve' (pralāpayanti); Rāmānuja reads it as 'redirect' (pravṛtti-nivāraṇa). Which metaphysics of action does each reading require, and can the Sanskrit of juhvati bear both?

show all 7

03Madhusūdana distinguishes laya-samādhi (reversible, seed remains) from bādha-samādhi (irreversible, seed destroyed). What does it mean for a spiritual state to be 'irreversible'? Can effort create an irreversible state?
04Śrīdhara uniquely enumerates the five subsidiary prāṇas (nāga through dhanañjaya). Why would a devotional commentator include this physio-technical detail, and what does it suggest about the relationship between yogic anatomy and bhakti?
05Vallabha places this verse at the middle tier of three types of yajña-performers. What constitutes the highest tier in his reading, and does that ranking imply that dhyāna-niṣṭhā is ultimately transcended in Puṣṭi-mārga?
06The fire metaphor appears across all six readings, yet what is 'kindled' differs — viveka (Śaṅkara), manas-saṃyama (Rāmānuja), upāya (Madhva), dhyeya-jñāna (Vallabha and Śrīdhara), Vedānta-mahāvākya (Madhusūdana). Does the single image of 'fire' conceal five different accounts of how insight relates to restraint?
07If prāṇa-karmāṇi (vital-breath acts) are offered alongside indriya-karmāṇi, does the verse imply that even involuntary biological processes (breathing, circulation) are eventually brought within the scope of yogic discipline — and what are the ethical stakes of that claim?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

In any moment of reactive seeing or hearing, pause and ask: 'Who is the one experiencing this?' That inquiry — even for a breath — is the viveka-vijñāna that kindles the inner fire. The goal is not to suppress the sensation but to let the question dissolve the sense of a separate experiencer doing the sensing.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Before each significant act — speaking, deciding, choosing — take one deliberate moment of manas-saṃyama (mental recollection): offer the pending action to Bhagavān and check whether it is moving toward or away from His presence. This is not suppression but reorientation; the sense-act is completed, but its motivating energy is realigned as kainkarya.

show all 6

Dvaita

Treat every exercise of restraint — keeping silence when provoked, fasting, curbing a habitual appetite — as an explicit act of worship rather than personal virtue. The discipline is the upāya (means); Hari is the only agent. Naming that dependency honestly prevents pride from colonizing the practice.

Śuddhādvaita

When engaged in smaraṇa (remembrance) or dhyāna of Kṛṣṇa, recognize that even the capacity to concentrate is prasāda. When distraction arises, do not struggle — simply return to the dhyeya (object of meditation) with the understanding that the return itself is His gift. The middle path here is grateful persistence, not heroic effort.

Bhakti

Cultivate awareness of the ten prāṇas as a contemplative body-scan: notice inhalation (prāṇa), retention, the descending current (apāna), the diffuse circulation (vyāna), the equalizing digestive function (samāna), and the ascending energy (udāna). This is not anatomy for its own sake — it is the inventory of what you are offering. You cannot offer what you cannot name.

Advaita-Bhakti

Study one Vedānta mahāvākya (e.g., 'tat tvam asi') carefully enough to hold its meaning in sustained attention during meditation. Madhusūdana's point is that jñāna must do real cognitive work — it must actually sublate the sense of separateness — not merely accompany the sitting. The test is whether the insight interrupts the habitual identification with the 17-fold subtle body even briefly; repeated interruption is the practice.

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 4, Verse 27: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Karma-Sannyāsa-Yoga