Regulation purifies energy.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
अपरे नियताहाराः प्राणान्प्राणेषु जुह्वति |सर्वेऽप्येते यज्ञविदो यज्ञक्षपितकल्मषाः ||४-३०||
apare niyatāhārāḥ prāṇānprāṇeṣu juhvati . sarve.apyete yajñavido yajñakṣapitakalmaṣāḥ ||4-30||
Use this verse when lifestyle chaos weakens your practice.
Meaning
Others with regulated diet offer life-breaths into life-breaths. All these knowers of yajna have their impurities destroyed by yajna.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Regulated living also becomes yajna when done with awareness.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
Krishna includes disciplined eating and regulated life as spiritual practice. Food, breath, habits, and energy management are not separate from spirituality. When regulated with awareness, they reduce impurity and restlessness. This verse is useful for people seeking lifestyle discipline: eating, sleep, breath, and energy are part of sadhana.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna closes his long catalogue of sacrifices by mentioning those of regulated diet (niyatāhāra), who offer the life-breaths within the life-breaths. Then comes the unifying conclusion: sarve'pi ete yajña-vidaḥ — all of these, without exception, are knowers of sacrifice, and through their offerings their impurities (kalmaṣa) are destroyed.
This sweeping affirmation is the heart of the passage. Whatever sincere form the offering takes — ritual, restraint, study, breath, or discipline of appetite — every true yajña purifies the one who performs it. The diversity of paths is not a confusion but a richness; the common thread is the spirit of self-offering.
Krishna gently dissolves any sense of one path being superior, uniting all genuine seekers under a single truth: sacrifice, offered sincerely, cleanses the heart.
In daily life
Treat food, sleep, breath, and routine as part of spiritual practice.
A person with irregular food and sleep may struggle to meditate steadily; regulation supports clarity.
Try this today
Choose one regulation for today: mindful eating, fixed sleep, breath pause, or screen limit.
My disciplined routine purifies my mind.Reflect
Which daily rhythm needs regulation: food, sleep, breath, or screen time?
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Quick check
What does ‘यज्ञ-विदः’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on paths, in other chapters
- Verse 3.3There is more than one valid road to truth — choose the one that fits your temperament rather than chasing what suits another's.
- Verse 18.5Acts of sacrifice, generosity, and self-discipline purify us and should never be abandoned.
- Verse 5.11Let your work aim at inner purification, not personal gain — then every effort becomes spiritual practice.
- Verse 6.12Gather your scattered mind into a single point — focused practice purifies the heart and clears the way to the Self.
Swipe left for 4.31 · Offering transforms consumption into grace.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 4.30
Who says Bhagavad Gita 4.30, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 4.30, in Chapter 4, Jnana Karma Sannyas Yoga (Jnana Karma Sannyas Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 4.30 mean?
Others with regulated diet offer life-breaths into life-breaths. All these knowers of yajna have their impurities destroyed by yajna. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 4.30 for daily life?
Treat food, sleep, breath, and routine as part of spiritual practice. A person with irregular food and sleep may struggle to meditate steadily; regulation supports clarity.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 4.30 mean?
अपरे — others; नियत-आहाराः — of regulated diet; प्राणान् प्राणेषु जुह्वति — offer the life-breaths in the life-breaths; सर्वे अपि एते — all these too; यज्ञ-विदः — knowers of sacrifice.
Where does verse 4.30 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 30 of 42 in Chapter 4, Jnana Karma Sannyas Yoga. The next verse is 4.31.