इष्टान्भोगान्हि वो देवा दास्यन्ते यज्ञभाविताः । तैर्दत्तानप्रदायैभ्यो यो भुङ्क्ते स्तेन एव सः ॥
iṣṭān bhogān hi vo devā dāsyante yajña-bhāvitāḥ | tair dattān apradāyaibhyo yo bhuṅkte stena eva saḥ ||
Enjoy the gifts of existence without giving back — the Gita calls that theft. Participate, don't just consume.
Word by word (3)
- yajña-bhāvitāḥ devāḥ
- — the gods nourished by yajna · The gods who have been sustained by the cosmic exchange of yajna will give back the desired goods (iṣṭān bhogān). The mechanism of reciprocity continues: properly maintained cosmic forces provide abundantly.
- stena eva saḥ
- — that one is verily a thief · Stena = thief. Eva = verily, certainly. One who enjoys the gifts of the cosmic order without giving back is a thief — taking what belongs to the shared commons. This is among the Gita's sharpest social statements: selfish consumption without contribution is theft.
- tair dattān apradāya ebhyaḥ yo bhuṅkte
- — taiḥ dattān = given by them (by the gods); apradāya = without giving back (a + pra + dā = not-giving-forward); ebhyaḥ = to these (to the gods and the chain of giving); yaḥ bhuṅkte = whoever enjoys/consumes — the logic of cosmic reciprocity: receiving without returning is theft (stena = thief) because it breaks the loop of mutual nourishment that creation is built on
The cosmic forces, nourished by yajna, give you all that you desire. But one who enjoys these gifts without giving back in return — that person is a thief.
A modern analogy
Someone who drives on public roads, benefits from public education, breathes clean air maintained by forests — but pays no taxes, votes only for their own interests, and contributes nothing to the commons. V12 calls this a form of theft: consuming what the collective has built without reciprocating.
Take with you
- Consumption without contribution is theft — of social capital, natural resources, and cosmic balance.
- Every pleasure, success, and comfort you enjoy is a gift from an interconnected system — acknowledge and return to it.
- The stena (thief) label is deliberately sharp: the Gita does not soften its social ethics.
- Yajna is the antidote: conscious, grateful participation in the giving-receiving cycle.
V12 uses the striking word stena (thief) to make the social ethics of yajna explicit. Shankaracharya comments that the word is precisely chosen: a thief takes what belongs to others. When the cosmic cycle (yajna) produces goods for everyone through mutual participation, one who consumes without contributing is taking from the common fund — which makes them a thief. This extends the yajna principle from religious ritual to social philosophy: every member of society is sustained by the collective; to take without giving is to steal from it. This verse has been cited in both ecological ethics and social responsibility frameworks.
Modern parallels
The 'tragedy of the commons' (Hardin): individuals overexploiting shared resources for personal gain while contributing nothing to their maintenance. V12 describes this as steya (theft). Elinor Ostrom's work on sustainable commons governance shows that communities with yajna-like reciprocity norms (giving back proportionally to what one takes) maintain commons indefinitely. The stena pattern destroys them.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
The gods, pleased with sacrifices, will bestow desired enjoyments on you. He who enjoys their gifts without giving to them is verily a thief. [1]
The gods, nourished by sacrifice, will give you the enjoyments you desire; he who enjoys what they give without giving to them in return is verily a thief. [4]
The gods, nourished by sacrifice, will grant you all your desires. He is a thief who enjoys their gifts without making offerings to them. [6]
Nourished by sacrifice the gods will give the good Ye pray for. He who eats their gift and gives Naught back is a thief. [7]
The gods, pleased by sacrifice, will bestow on you the pleasures you desire; he who enjoys their gifts without returning them is indeed a thief. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Nourish the cosmic forces and they nourish you back. Mutual giving is the path to the highest good.
Give first, then receive — freed from all impurity. Cook only for yourself — you eat your own sin.
Bound by hundreds of hope-nooses, devoted to kāma and krodha, they hoard wealth by unjust means for sense-enjoyment.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!