Generosity, austerity, inner yoga, and the study of scripture are all named here as sacrifice.
It is easy to think worship means one fixed ritual and that your own ordinary practice falls short of it. Here the word sacrifice is widened until giving, hard discipline, the stilling of the mind, and study all stand inside it, each a true offering.
Others, self-controlled and firm in their vows, make sacrifice through wealth, through austerity, and through yoga, while others sacrifice through study and knowledge.
Krishna has been naming kind after kind of sacrifice, and here he adds more, widening still further what may rightly be called worship.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
When you give, building a well, sharing food, raising a temple, that ordinary generosity is not apart from holy work; offered in this spirit, it is itself sacrifice.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhedābheda, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Madhva · Vallabha · Puruṣottama · Bhāskara · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Jñāneśvar · Sivananda · Tilak · RamsukhdasIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 16 others’ words
Krishna keeps enlarging his catalogue of sacrifice (yajna). Having already named several kinds, he now adds more, and the central move of the verse is to widen what counts as worship. A 'sacrifice by substance' (dravya-yajna) is one where giving is itself the offering: building wells, tanks, gardens and temples, distributing food, and similar charitable and ritual gifts. The point is that ordinary acts of generosity, when done in this spirit, are not separate from holy work; they are sacrifice.
Your hard discipline, your inner yoga, your study of scripture and inquiry into its meaning are each a real offering, so that speech and understanding themselves become sacred acts.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabha · Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Jñāneśvar · Sivananda · Tilak · RamsukhdasIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 14 others’ words
The verse then names sacrifice by austerity (tapo-yajna), by yoga (yoga-yajna), and by scripture-study and knowledge (svadhyaya-jnana-yajna). 'Tapas' is self-discipline through hard observances such as fasting and the prescribed penances; for these people their austerity is the offering. 'Yoga' here is most often read as the disciplined inner path, especially the eightfold yoga whose core is the stilling of the mind's movements through restraints, observances, posture, breath-control, withdrawal of the senses, and the deepening stages of concentration, meditation and absorption. 'Svadhyaya' is the regular recitation and study of the Veda, and 'jnana' is the inquiry into its meaning. So speech, study and understanding are themselves treated as sacrificial acts.
Whatever form the offering takes, what unites these people is that they strive, putting real effort into their practice and keeping their vows sharp, firm and exacting.
Across Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesŚaṅkara · Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati · Rāmānuja · Vedānta Deśika · Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Tilak · RamsukhdasIn Śaṅkara, Ānandagiri, and 11 others’ words
The closing words describe the kind of people who do all this. They are 'yatayah', strivers, those who put real effort into their chosen practice, and they are 'samshita-vrata', of sharply honed vows, meaning their commitments are made keen, firm and exacting. Several commentators read this last phrase as the qualifier that covers everyone named in the verse: whatever form their sacrifice takes, what unites them is rigor and steadiness in keeping it.
The path of sacrifice is wide, and many temperaments can walk it; the right offering for you is the one that suits your own nature and leads you to God.
Across Bhakti, Advaita, and the modern voicesRamsukhdas · Jñāneśvar · Śaṅkara · MadhusūdanaIn Ramsukhdas, Jñāneśvar, and 2 others’ words
Taken together, the verse teaches that the path of sacrifice is wide and that many different temperaments can travel it. Giving, self-discipline, inner yoga, study and contemplative knowledge are all valid offerings. One commentator makes the inclusiveness explicit: each of these is a path to reaching God, and the right one for a person is the one that suits their own nature.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Advaita Vedānta, in their fuller words
These commentators read the list as a description of disciplined practices that purify and prepare the seeker, and they read 'jnana' as the full understanding of the meaning of scripture. One of them goes furthest in drawing out an ethical fruit: the firmness of these vows shuts the four gates of hell, which are desire, anger, greed and delusion. Non-injury and patience end anger, continence and right reflection end desire, non-stealing and non-possession and contentment end greed, and truth and discerning right knowledge end delusion, and with these their whole root is cut. Several of them are also careful readers of the grammar and the count: they take pains to fix exactly how many sacrifices the verse names and to reject a reading that would treat 'samshita-vrata' as a separate vow-sacrifice, since that would double-count.
Viśiṣṭādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators stress that the whole list belongs to 'the discipline of action' (karma-yoga), and that the repeated word 'sacrifice' marks off many sub-varieties of that one path. Strikingly, they read 'yoga' here not as inner meditative yoga but as the reaching of holy fords and holy places, that is, pilgrimage, because the topic at hand is the varieties of standing firm in action; one of them quotes a chapter-summary that defines karma-yoga as the service of austerity, sacred fords, gift and sacrifice. They also break out the substance-offering into distinct forms such as worship of the gods, gift, and oblation.
Dvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators add a precise theological condition: what makes any of these acts a sacrifice at all is the inner thought of offering it to the supreme Lord. The austerity, for instance, becomes an oblation poured into the fire that is Brahman for His worship, and the offering 'lies precisely in dedicating it to Him.' One of them resolves a grammatical puzzle to secure this: since substance is not literally a sacrifice, the word 'sacrifice' here must mean not the act but the agent, so 'dravya-yajna' means 'the sacrificer who offers substance.' The decisive point is that it is this mode of dedication to God, and nothing else, that confers the status of sacrifice.
Śuddhādvaita, in their fuller words
These commentators map the kinds of sacrificer onto stations of life and, above all, onto love of God. One reads the substance-offerers as householders and the austerity-offerers as forest-dwellers. The other makes the devotional aim central: people perform austerity, yoga, study and knowledge with the very intention (buddhi) of sacrifice precisely because they wish to generate the love of God that is born of yajna; and the 'sharp-vowed' are those whose works are made utterly fine and who are intent on the remembrance (smarana) of God alone.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
These commentators give a mostly straightforward gloss, reading 'yoga' as the eightfold yoga or as the stilling of the mind's movements culminating in absorption, and treating these practitioners as karma-yogins whose strict vows mark their rigor. One of them adds a devotional note in rendering yoga as 'Godward devotion,' observes that the riddles of all these sacrifices are very hard to solve, and says that those who have mastered their senses succeed by spiritual energy, finally offering their individual souls at the altar of the Supreme Soul.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
These commentators read the list as a practical menu of valid spiritual paths. One spells out the eightfold Raja Yoga limb by limb. One reads 'svadhyaya' in a distinctive way, as observing the ritual prescribed for one's own caste, and treats the practitioners as men of mental control. One emphasizes that the unifying mark, 'samshita-vrata,' rests on the five great vows of non-injury, truth, non-stealing, continence and non-possession, whose essence is turning the mind away from worldly entanglement, and concludes plainly that the gift of the giver, the austerity of the ascetic, the yoga of the karma-yogi and the study-and-knowledge of the scholar are all valid, each a path to God for the one whose nature suits it.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Notice that this verse does not rank these practices against each other. Giving away what you have, keeping a hard discipline, sitting in inner yoga, studying scripture, inquiring into its meaning: each is a real path, and each reaches the same goal. The practical counsel is to choose by your own nature rather than by what looks most impressive. The work that genuinely suits your temperament is the one you will be able to put real effort into, and effort, not glamour, is what the verse honors. Whatever form you choose, hold its vows firmly and keep them keen, and let the deeper aim of all such discipline be the same: to turn the mind away from worldly entanglement and toward God.
So do not measure your practice by how impressive it looks, but choose the work that truly suits you, hold its vows keenly, and let it turn your mind toward God.
Read deeper
Everything a full study holds, folded below.
Word by word
All the commentary, woven together
The commentary, woven together
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
rishna keeps enlarging his catalogue of sacrifice (yajna). Having already named several kinds, he now adds more, and the central move of the verse is to widen what counts as worship. A 'sacrifice by substance' (dravya-yajna) is one where giving is itself the offering: building wells, tanks, gardens and temples, distributing food, and similar charitable and ritual gifts. The point is that ordinary acts of generosity, when done in this spirit, are not separate from holy work; they are sacrifice.
Braided from 18 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Madhvācārya · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrī Bhāskara · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The verse then names sacrifice by austerity (tapo-yajna), by yoga (yoga-yajna), and by scripture-study and knowledge (svadhyaya-jnana-yajna). 'Tapas' is self-discipline through hard observances such as fasting and the prescribed penances; for these people their austerity is the offering. 'Yoga' here is most often read as the disciplined inner path, especially the eightfold yoga whose core is the stilling of the mind's movements through restraints, observances, posture, breath-control, withdrawal of the senses, and the deepening stages of concentration, meditation and absorption. 'Svadhyaya' is the regular recitation and study of the Veda, and 'jnana' is the inquiry into its meaning. So speech, study and understanding are themselves treated as sacrificial acts.
Braided from 16 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The closing words describe the kind of people who do all this. They are 'yatayah', strivers, those who put real effort into their chosen practice, and they are 'samshita-vrata', of sharply honed vows, meaning their commitments are made keen, firm and exacting. Several commentators read this last phrase as the qualifier that covers everyone named in the verse: whatever form their sacrifice takes, what unites them is rigor and steadiness in keeping it.
Braided from 13 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
Taken together, the verse teaches that the path of sacrifice is wide and that many different temperaments can travel it. Giving, self-discipline, inner yoga, study and contemplative knowledge are all valid offerings. One commentator makes the inclusiveness explicit: each of these is a path to reaching God, and the right one for a person is the one that suits their own nature.
Swami Ramsukhdas · Sant Jñāneśvar · Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
These commentators read the list as a description of disciplined practices that purify and prepare the seeker, and they read 'jnana' as the full understanding of the meaning of scripture. One of them goes furthest in drawing out an ethical fruit: the firmness of these vows shuts the four gates of hell, which are desire, anger, greed and delusion. Non-injury and patience end anger, continence and right reflection end desire, non-stealing and non-possession and contentment end greed, and truth and discerning right knowledge end delusion, and with these their whole root is cut. Several of them are also careful readers of the grammar and the count: they take pains to fix exactly how many sacrifices the verse names and to reject a reading that would treat 'samshita-vrata' as a separate vow-sacrifice, since that would double-count.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri
Viśiṣṭādvaita
These commentators stress that the whole list belongs to 'the discipline of action' (karma-yoga), and that the repeated word 'sacrifice' marks off many sub-varieties of that one path. Strikingly, they read 'yoga' here not as inner meditative yoga but as the reaching of holy fords and holy places, that is, pilgrimage, because the topic at hand is the varieties of standing firm in action; one of them quotes a chapter-summary that defines karma-yoga as the service of austerity, sacred fords, gift and sacrifice. They also break out the substance-offering into distinct forms such as worship of the gods, gift, and oblation.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
Dvaita
These commentators add a precise theological condition: what makes any of these acts a sacrifice at all is the inner thought of offering it to the supreme Lord. The austerity, for instance, becomes an oblation poured into the fire that is Brahman for His worship, and the offering 'lies precisely in dedicating it to Him.' One of them resolves a grammatical puzzle to secure this: since substance is not literally a sacrifice, the word 'sacrifice' here must mean not the act but the agent, so 'dravya-yajna' means 'the sacrificer who offers substance.' The decisive point is that it is this mode of dedication to God, and nothing else, that confers the status of sacrifice.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha
Śuddhādvaita
These commentators map the kinds of sacrificer onto stations of life and, above all, onto love of God. One reads the substance-offerers as householders and the austerity-offerers as forest-dwellers. The other makes the devotional aim central: people perform austerity, yoga, study and knowledge with the very intention (buddhi) of sacrifice precisely because they wish to generate the love of God that is born of yajna; and the 'sharp-vowed' are those whose works are made utterly fine and who are intent on the remembrance (smarana) of God alone.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhakti
These commentators give a mostly straightforward gloss, reading 'yoga' as the eightfold yoga or as the stilling of the mind's movements culminating in absorption, and treating these practitioners as karma-yogins whose strict vows mark their rigor. One of them adds a devotional note in rendering yoga as 'Godward devotion,' observes that the riddles of all these sacrifices are very hard to solve, and says that those who have mastered their senses succeed by spiritual energy, finally offering their individual souls at the altar of the Supreme Soul.
Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar
Modern
These commentators read the list as a practical menu of valid spiritual paths. One spells out the eightfold Raja Yoga limb by limb. One reads 'svadhyaya' in a distinctive way, as observing the ritual prescribed for one's own caste, and treats the practitioners as men of mental control. One emphasizes that the unifying mark, 'samshita-vrata,' rests on the five great vows of non-injury, truth, non-stealing, continence and non-possession, whose essence is turning the mind away from worldly entanglement, and concludes plainly that the gift of the giver, the austerity of the ascetic, the yoga of the karma-yogi and the study-and-knowledge of the scholar are all valid, each a path to God for the one whose nature suits it.
Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
A Seeker Asks
With so many kinds of sacrifice on offer, how do I know which one is actually mine to practice?
The verse itself answers by refusing to pick one for you. It deliberately widens what counts as sacrifice to include generosity, austerity, inner yoga, study and contemplative knowledge, so that many different temperaments all have a true path.
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak
The clearest direct guidance is to choose by your own nature: the gift of the giver, the austerity of the ascetic, the yoga of the practitioner and the study of the scholar are all valid, and each becomes a path to God for the person whose disposition suits it.
Swami Ramsukhdas
The verse also tells you what matters once you have chosen. It praises the 'strivers of sharpened vows,' the people who put real effort into their practice and keep their commitments keen and firm. So the test of the right practice is less which one it is and more whether you can give it that kind of sustained, rigorous effort.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Swami Ramsukhdas · Lokmanya Tilak
And several commentators add the inner condition that makes any of these a real sacrifice: the act is offered to God, dedicated to Him rather than kept for oneself. Whatever outer form you pick, that turning of the act toward the divine is what gives it its worth.
Madhvācārya · Śrī Jayatīrtha · Śrī Puruṣottama
Contemplation
Notice that this verse does not rank these practices against each other. Giving away what you have, keeping a hard discipline, sitting in inner yoga, studying scripture, inquiring into its meaning: each is a real path, and each reaches the same goal. The practical counsel is to choose by your own nature rather than by what looks most impressive. The work that genuinely suits your temperament is the one you will be able to put real effort into, and effort, not glamour, is what the verse honors. Whatever form you choose, hold its vows firmly and keep them keen, and let the deeper aim of all such discipline be the same: to turn the mind away from worldly entanglement and toward God.
Sit with this · Swami Ramsukhdas
All the translations and commentary
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