यज्ञशिष्टामृतभुजो यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनम् । नायं लोकोऽस्त्ययज्ञस्य कुतोऽन्यः कुरुसत्तम ॥
yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujo yānti brahma sanātanam | nāyaṃ loko 'sty ayajñasya kuto 'nyaḥ kuru-sattama ||
Those who eat yajna's remnants reach eternal Brahman. Without offering, not even this world is theirs.
Word by word (3)
- yajña-śiṣṭa-amṛta-bhujaḥ yānti brahma sanātanam
- — those who eat the nectar-remnant of yajna go to eternal Brahman · Yajña-śiṣṭa = the remnant/remainder of yajna (śiṣṭa = left over, from śiṣ = to leave over). Amṛta = nectar, immortal substance (a + mṛta = not-dead = deathless). Together: yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta = the immortal remnant of yajna — what remains after the sacrifice is the purified residue, the prasād that nourishes the giver. Bhujaḥ = those who eat/enjoy. Yānti = they go. Brahma sanātanam = eternal Brahman.
- na ayaṃ lokaḥ asti ayajñasya kutaḥ anyaḥ kuru-sattama
- — not even this world exists for the non-offerer — how then the other? O best of the Kurus · Na ayaṃ lokaḥ = not this world. Asti = exists. Ayajñasya = for the one who does not sacrifice (a+yajña = non-sacrifice person; genitive = 'for him'). Kutaḥ anyaḥ = how then another (world)? If the person who does not offer cannot find a foothold even in the immediate world of action and result — how could they access anything higher? Kuru-sattama = O best of the Kurus (address to Arjuna — the highest in the Kuru lineage).
- yajña-śiṣṭa — the remnant that nourishes
- — the residue of offering is the most nourishing food — the offering returns as gift · The concept of yajña-śiṣṭa embeds a cosmic law: what you give away returns purified and enriched. The one who eats only what they have offered has already participated in the cosmic exchange — their nourishment is qualified by the offering. The one who takes without offering lives from unrefined, karma-generating consumption. V31 closes the yajna taxonomy of V25-31 with this stark contrast.
Those who eat the immortal remnants of yajna go to eternal Brahman. Not even this world exists for the non-offerer — how then could another world exist for them, O Arjuna?
A modern analogy
Those who give of themselves — time, skill, resources — as genuine offering find that the giving enriches them. Those who only consume, never offer, find that even what they have feels insufficient and unstable. V31: the one who does not participate in the cosmic exchange of offering has no ground in this world or the next.
Take with you
- Yajña-śiṣṭa (remnant of yajna): what you receive after offering is qualitatively different from what you take without offering.
- Amṛta (nectar/immortal): the residue of genuine offering is nourishing in the deepest sense — it feeds liberation, not just the body.
- Ayajñasya (of the non-offerer): the person who never gives, never participates in exchange, has no stable foundation anywhere.
- V31 closes the yajna taxonomy (V25-31): the survey of yajna-forms ends with the reminder of why yajna matters.
V31 closes the yajna taxonomy section (V25-31) with a dual statement: the positive result of yajna (yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujaḥ yānti brahma sanātanam — those who live on the purified remnant of their offerings reach eternal Brahman) and the negative: nāyaṃ loko 'sty ayajñasya (not even this world exists for the non-offerer). Shankaracharya: the logic is precise — the human world is structured by yajna (V3.14-16 established this). One who does not participate in the giving-receiving-sustaining cycle of yajna has no rightful foothold in the structure. They may subsist — but without the inner stability that yajna-participation provides. The promise (brahma sanātanam) is the culmination of the whole yajna taxonomy: every form of sincere offering listed in V25-30 eventually resolves in the same direction — Brahman.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
The righteous who eat the remnants of sacrifice, the nectar of immortality, go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for the non-sacrificer — how then the other world, O best of the Kurus? [1]
The righteous who eat the remnants of the sacrifice go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for him who offers no sacrifice — how then the other world, O best of the Kurus? [4]
Those who partake of the immortal remnants of the sacrifice go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for him who makes no sacrifice — how then the other, O best of the Kurus? [6]
Those who eat of the sacrifice's remnants go to Brahman. This world is not for the non-sacrificer — how then the other, O best of Kurus? [7]
Those who eat the remnants of the sacrifice, the nectar of immortality, go to the eternal Brahman. This world is not for the man who sacrifices not — how then the other world, O best of the Kurus? [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
Regulated food, prāṇas offered into prāṇas — ALL these are knowers of yajna; yajna destroys all their impurities.
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
Brahman is the Imperishable; Adhyātma is its presence in each body; Karma is the cosmic offering sustaining all beings.
Intellect, wisdom, patience, truth, calm, restraint, joy, pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness — all arise from Me.
Non-injury, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame and infamy — these varied states arise from Me alone.