Chapter 17 · The three kinds of faith
Bhagavad Gita 17.25
Sacrifice, austerity and charity, done without aiming at reward.
Shri Bhagavan
तदित्यनभिसन्धाय फलं यज्ञतपःक्रियाः ।
दानक्रियाश्च विविधाः क्रियन्ते मोक्षकाङ्क्षिभिः ॥
tadityanabhisandhāya phalaṁ yajñatapaḥkriyāḥ / dānakriyāśca vividhāḥ kriyante mokṣakāṅkṣibhiḥ
With the word Tat, and without aiming at any result, those who seek liberation carry out the acts of yajna and tapas, and dana of many kinds.
हिंदी · 'तत्' शब्द के साथ, फल की कोई इच्छा रखे बिना, मोक्ष चाहने वाले लोग यज्ञ और तप के कर्म तथा अनेक प्रकार के दान करते हैं।
What it means
Sacrifice, austerity and charity, done without aiming at reward.
With the word tat, those who seek liberation perform sacrifice, austerity and acts of giving without any aim at what they will get from them. The act is complete in itself, not a transaction.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Verses that share its vocabulary
Near it in the text’s own words.
- 8.28The yogi who knows all this passes beyond whatever merit is laid down for the Vedas, for sacrifices, for austerities and for gifts, and reaches the supreme and original abode.
- 11.48Not by study of the Vedas or by sacrifice, not by gifts, not by rituals, not by harsh austerities can I be seen in this form in the world of men by anyone but you, great warrior of the Kurus.
- 17.7Even the food each person prefers is of three kinds, and so are yajna, tapas and dana. Listen now to how they differ from one another.
- 17.24So those who speak of Brahman always begin the acts of yajna, dana and tapas that the rules lay down by first uttering Om.
- 17.27Steadiness in yajna, in tapas and in dana is also called Sat. And any action done for the sake of the Supreme is likewise named Sat.
- 18.3Some thinkers say that action should be abandoned as being tainted with fault; others say that the works of sacrifice, charity and austerity should not be abandoned.
Chosen by shared uncommon vocabulary, weighted so that a rare word counts for far more than a common one. A reading aid, not a claim that these verses mean the same thing.