Chapter 3, Verse 15
कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भवं विद्धि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भवम् | तस्मात्सर्वगतं ब्रह्म नित्यं यज्ञे प्रतिष्ठितम् ||३-१५||
karma brahmodbhavaṃ viddhi brahmākṣarasamudbhavam . tasmātsarvagataṃ brahma nityaṃ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam ||3-15||
Meaning
3.15 Know thou that action comes from Brahma and Brahma comes from the Imperishable. Therefore, the all-pervading (Brahma) ever rests in sacrifice.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna lifts the wheel of life to its ultimate source. Action springs from Brahman — the creative principle and the eternal teaching — and Brahman itself arises from the akshara, the Imperishable Absolute. The chain of sustenance is thus rooted not merely in nature but in the divine ground of all being.
The conclusion is luminous: the all-pervading Brahman is eternally present in yajna, in the act of sacrifice. This means that selfless action is not a mundane affair but a meeting point with the sacred. When we perform our duty in the spirit of offering, we participate in a divine order that reaches back to the very source of existence. Action, far from being a fall from grace, becomes a form of worship — a way the eternal expresses and sustains itself through us.
💡 Key Takeaway
Selfless action connects you to the divine source of all things — your work, offered rightly, becomes a form of worship.
Related Verses
अर्जुन उवाच | ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन | तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ||३-१||
arjuna uvāca . jyāyasī cetkarmaṇaste matā buddhirjanārdana . tatkiṃ karmaṇi ghore māṃ niyojayasi keśava ||3-1||
3.1 Arjuna said If Thou thinkest that knowledge is superior to action, O Krishna, why then, O Kesava, dost Thou ask me to engage in this terrible action?
श्रीभगवानुवाच | लोकेऽस्मिन् द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ | ज्ञानयोगेन साङ्ख्यानां कर्मयोगेन योगिनाम् ||३-३||
śrībhagavānuvāca . loke.asmina dvividhā niṣṭhā purā proktā mayānagha . jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṃ karmayogena yoginām ||3-3||
3.3 The Blessed Lord said In this world there is a twofold path, as I said before, O sinless one; the path of knowledge of the Sankhyas and the path of action of the Yogins.
न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते | न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति ||३-४||
na karmaṇāmanārambhānnaiṣkarmyaṃ puruṣo.aśnute . na ca saṃnyasanādeva siddhiṃ samadhigacchati ||3-4||
3.4 Not by non-performance of actions does man reach actionlessness; nor by mere renunciation does he attain to perfection.