अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते | भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ||३||
akṣaraṃ brahma paramaṃ svabhāvo'dhyātmam ucyate | bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-saṃjñitaḥ || 3 ||
Brahman is the Imperishable; Adhyātma is its presence in each body; Karma is the cosmic offering sustaining all beings.
Word by word (3)
- akṣaraṃ brahma paramaṃ / svabhāvo'dhyātmam ucyate
- — The Imperishable is the Supreme Brahman / its dwelling as svabhāva is called Adhyātma · akṣaraṃ = the Imperishable (a = not; kṣara = perishable, transient — akṣara = the non-perishing, the Imperishable; also means 'syllable' — especially Oṃ, the imperishable syllable). brahma = Brahman (the Absolute). paramaṃ = supreme (the highest designation). svabhāvaḥ = one's own nature/being (sva = own; bhāva = being, nature, existence — svabhāva = inherent nature, one's own being as it manifests in individual form). adhyātmam = Adhyātma. ucyate = is called (from √vac — is named, is said to be). So: akṣaram brahma param = the Supreme Brahman is the Imperishable (akṣara); its svabhāva (its own-being as manifested in each individual) = Adhyātma. The identification: Brahman is the akṣara ground; Adhyātma is Brahman as svabhāva — the Imperishable's manifestation as the individual's own deepest nature. This makes Adhyātma not separate from Brahman but Brahman's own nature as experienced from within each individual.
- bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karaḥ visargaḥ karma-saṃjñitaḥ
- — The creative emanation that causes the arising of beings' existence is known as Karma · bhūta-bhāva-udbhava-karaḥ = causing the arising (udbhava = arising, coming forth) of beings' (bhūta) existence (bhāva = being, existence, arising). visargaḥ = emanation, creative outpouring (vi = apart; sarga = creation, flowing forth — visarga = the creative outflow, the cosmic emanation). karma-saṃjñitaḥ = known as Karma (saṃjñita = called, named — 'bearing the designation karma'). This is a cosmological definition of karma: not primarily the ethical law of cause-and-effect (though that is implicit) but the creative cosmic outpouring (visarga) that gives rise to the existence (bhāva-udbhava) of all beings (bhūta). Karma here is the creative principle — the sustaining cosmic action that continuously produces and maintains existence. This connects to the yajna teaching of Ch.3 (the wheel of yajna keeps the world going) — karma as the cosmic sustaining offering.
- akṣara / svabhāva / visarga — the three definitions in V3
- — Brahman as Imperishable, Adhyātma as its own-being manifestation, Karma as the creative cosmic outflow — three interlocking definitions · V3's three definitions form an interlocking system: (1) akṣaram brahma = Brahman is the Imperishable ground — it does not perish, is not born, does not end (connects to Ch.2 V20's 'na jāyate mriyate vā — not born, not dying'). (2) svabhāvo'dhyātmam = Adhyātma is svabhāva — Brahman's own-being as it manifests as the deepest nature of each individual; this is the ātman-as-Brahman teaching: your deepest nature (svabhāva) IS Brahman's self-manifestation. (3) karma = visarga = the creative outpouring that produces and sustains beings' existence — karma is not just individual action but cosmic creative force. Together: Brahman is the imperishable ground (akṣara); it manifests as each being's deepest nature (svabhāva = Adhyātma); and its outpouring that produces and sustains beings is karma (visarga). Reality is one (Brahman/akṣara), manifesting in individual beings (svabhāva), and expressed as the creative force that sustains them (visarga/karma).
Krishna answers V1's first three questions: Brahman = the Imperishable (akṣara), the Supreme ground of all existence. Adhyātma = svabhāva — Brahman's own-being as the deepest nature manifested in each individual. Karma = the creative cosmic outpouring (visarga) that produces and sustains the existence of all beings.
A modern analogy
Brahman is the ocean itself — not the waves, but the water-nature that is imperishable. Adhyātma is the ocean's own nature as it manifests in each drop — each drop IS ocean-water, ocean's own nature (svabhāva) in individual form. Karma (visarga) is the motion of the ocean that produces waves — the cosmic creative force that continuously brings beings into existence.
What it does NOT mean
V3's definition of Karma as 'visarga' (cosmic emanation causing beings' existence) is NOT the same as the popular notion of karma as 'you reap what you sow.' That ethical meaning is present in the Gita, but V3's definition is cosmological: karma as the creative principle that sustains all of existence. Both meanings are true at different levels.
Take with you
- V3's 'svabhāvo'dhyātmam' (Adhyātma is your own nature/svabhāva) is a profound teaching: the path to knowing the Supreme is inward, through one's own deepest nature. Adhyātma means 'concerning the Self' — the Self-inquiry path is not an exotic addition to reality but the recognition of what is already your most fundamental nature.
- V3's cosmic definition of Karma (visarga = creative outpouring) elevates all action: every action participates in the cosmic creative principle that sustains existence. Karma yoga — offering all actions to the Divine — is alignment with this cosmic sustaining force rather than individual grasping.
- V3's akṣara (Imperishable) is the exact quality that makes V2's prayāṇa-kāle recognition possible: the Brahman that Arjuna seeks to know at death is the Imperishable — the ground that does not die when the body dies. Knowing the Imperishable during life means having a relationship with what holds through death.
V3 is one of the Gita's most compact and precise philosophical statements. It defines three of the six technical terms in a single verse, and the three definitions form an interlocking metaphysical system. The key definition is akṣaraṃ brahma paramaṃ — Brahman is the Imperishable (akṣara). This connects to the chapter's title (Akṣara Brahma Yoga — the Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman) and to the Upaniṣadic teaching of Brahman as the ground that does not perish (specifically Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.1.5's distinction between kṣara/akṣara and Bṛhadāraṇyaka 3.8 where Gārgī asks Yājñavalkya about the akṣara — the Imperishable that holds everything). Svabhāvo'dhyātmam is the most philosophically dense: svabhāva (own-nature, own-being) describes the mode in which the akṣara Brahman is present in each individual. It is not a separate entity (the individual soul) that is distinct from Brahman, nor is it simply identical with Brahman in a flat way — it is Brahman's own nature (sva + bhāva) as manifested in each body. The Advaita reading (ātman = Brahman) and the Viśiṣṭādvaita reading (the individual as a mode of Brahman) both find support here. Visargaḥ karma-saṃjñitaḥ (the creative outpouring called Karma) connects to Ch.3's yajna cycle — the cosmic action that sustains existence. The visarga (outpouring) that produces beings' existence is the cosmic yajna that Ch.3 described as the wheel that must be kept turning. Karma here is not primarily ethical but cosmic — it is the creative principle.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: akṣaram = the imperishable Brahman = OM (the akṣara syllable that Brahman). Svabhāva = Brahman's own nature as manifested in individual form = Adhyātma = ātman. The visarga (karma) is Brahman's creative outpouring that produces apparent multiplicity. At the ultimate level, akṣara, svabhāva, and visarga are one — the Brahman that is Imperishable, appearing as individuals (svabhāva), and creating through its own nature (visarga).
Bhakti lens
For bhakti traditions, V3's 'akṣaraṃ brahma paramaṃ' is the ground of faith: the Beloved is the Imperishable — love of the Divine is love for what does not perish. The devotee's love participates in the akṣara ground through bhakti. Arnold's translation ('I BRAHMA am! the One Eternal GOD') captures this devotional sense — Krishna identifying Himself with the Imperishable.
Karma-Yoga lens
V3's cosmic definition of karma (visarga = creative outpouring sustaining all beings) elevates karma yoga's rationale: when the karma yogi offers all actions to the Divine, they are aligning individual action with the cosmic creative principle (visarga) that is called Karma. The offering is not a surrender of agency but an alignment with the cosmic generative force.
Modern parallels
V3's akṣara (Imperishable) parallels Spinoza's Natura naturans — the self-originating, self-sustaining ground of all existence. V3's svabhāva (Adhyātma) parallels Leibniz's concept of each monad expressing the universal from its own perspective — each individual being an expression of the One from its unique vantage. V3's visarga (karma) parallels the concept of creative emergence — the ongoing cosmic process that continuously generates new beings.
Practice
Akṣara recognition meditation: take a single breath and ask: 'What does not change in this breath — the awareness within which the breath arises and passes?' Rest in what seems most permanent, most ground-like, most non-changing in your experience. That is the direction akṣaraṃ brahma points: not a concept but the recognition of the Imperishable ground present in each moment of experience.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
The Imperishable is the Supreme Brahman. Its dwelling in each individual body is called Adhyatma; the offering in sacrifice which causes the genesis and support of beings, is called Karma. [4]
Brahman is the Indestructible, the Supreme; His essential nature is called Adhyātma; the emanation that causes beings to spring into existence is named Karma. [5]
Brahman the Supreme is the exhaustless. Adhyatma is the name of my being manifesting as the Individual Self. Karma is the emanation which causes the existence and reproduction of creatures. [6]
I BRAHMA am! the One Eternal GOD, And ADHYATMAN is My Being's name, The Soul of Souls! What goeth forth from Me, Causing all life to live, is KARMA called. [7]
The Brahman is the supreme, the indestructible. Its manifestation as an individual self is called the Adhyatma. The offering which is the cause of the production and development of all things is named action. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
What is Brahman, Adhyātma, Karma, Adhibhūta, and Adhidaiva, O Puruṣottama?
Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
Unborn. Undying. Ancient. Eternal. Not slain when the body is slain — this is what you are.
Action arises from Brahman, Brahman from the Imperishable. The all-pervading ultimate is present in every act of yajna.
Those who eat yajna's remnants reach eternal Brahman. Without offering, not even this world is theirs.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.