यतः प्रवृत्तिर् भूतानां येन सर्वम् इदं ततम् । स्वकर्मणा तम् अभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः ॥
yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṃ yena sarvam idaṃ tatam | svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṃ vindati mānavaḥ ||
From whom all beings arise, by whom all is pervaded — worshiping THAT through one's own duty, one attains perfection.
Word by word (3)
- yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṃ yena sarvam idaṃ tatam
- — from whom (yataḥ = from which) is the arising/movement (pravṛttir = evolution/arising) of all beings (bhūtānām), by whom (yena = by which) all this (sarvam idam) is pervaded/spread (tatam = spread out, from tan = to spread) — two names of the Divine: the source of all arising + the substance that pervades all
- svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṃ vindati mānavaḥ
- — by/through one's own duty/action (svakarmaṇā = svakarmana = by-one's-own-karma), worshiping (abhyarcya = fully-worshiping, from abhi + arc = to honor, worship) THAT (tam = Him, the Divine), a person (mānavaḥ = a human being) finds/attains (vindati) perfection (siddhim) — the HOW of V45's saṃsiddhi: svakarmā AS worship of the Source
- svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya
- — worshiping THAT by one's own duty — this is the Gita's most concise synthesis: svadharma IS worship (pūjā/arcana) when offered to the Source. Not: do your duty AND separately worship God. But: your duty, done with awareness of the Source, IS your worship. This transforms every act of every varṇa into a sacred act — the farmer's plowing, the warrior's battle, the scholar's study, all become abhyarcana (worship) when oriented toward the Divine Source.
From whom is the arising of all beings, by whom all this is pervaded — worshiping Him through one's own duty, a person attains perfection.
A modern analogy
V46 is the key to V45's promise. How does one's own duty lead to perfection? By becoming worship. The Gita's answer to 'how do I make my work spiritual?' is not 'do spiritual work' but 'do your work as worship of the Source.' The farmer who plows with awareness of the Source from whom all life arises is worshiping through that plowing. The warrior who protects with awareness of the one by whom all is pervaded is worshiping through that battle.
V46 provides the mechanism for V45's saṃsiddhi promise: svakarmaṇā tam abhyarcya (worshiping Him through one's own karma). This is a profound synthesis: svadharma + the spirit of offering to the Source = worship. The description of the Divine as both the source-of-arising (yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṃ) and the pervasive reality (yena sarvam tatam) echoes V40's universal scope: no being is free from guṇas — but equally, no being is separate from the Source who pervades all. Every act therefore CAN become worship when its nature as arising from and pervaded by the Source is recognized.
Yena sarvam idaṃ tatam (by whom all this is pervaded) uses the same root tan (to stretch/spread) as brahman's description in upaniṣadic context. The Divine here is both personal (tam = Him, with a pronoun) and cosmic (pervading all). This dual description — personal Source + impersonal pervasion — is the Gita's characteristic non-dual theism: the Divine is both the personal Lord one can worship and the impersonal Brahman that pervades all. Svakarmaṇā abhyarcya works in both frameworks.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Him from whom is the evolution of all beings, by whom all this is pervaded — by worshipping Him with his proper duty, man attains perfection. [1]
From whom is the evolution of all beings, by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him with his own duty, a man attains perfection. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
Him from whom are the movements of all beings, Him by whom all this is pervaded, worshiping him by the performance of one's own duty, one obtains perfection. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Krishna declares: 'I am the ground of Brahman — the Immortal, the Immutable, eternal Dharma, and perfect Bliss.'
By bhakti one truly knows what and who I am; then knowing Me truly, one enters into Me immediately.
Brahman-become, serene, neither grieving nor desiring, equal to all beings — he attains supreme bhakti to Me.
Destroyed is my delusion, memory restored by Your grace — I stand firm, free of doubt, and will do Your word.
Daivī wealth begins: abhaya, sattva-śuddhi, jñāna-yoga, dāna, dama, yajña, svādhyāya, tapa, ārjava.
Rājasic buddhi: imperfectly/wrongly discerns dharma-adharma and kārya-akārya — not as they really are.