Sanskrit
यज्ञदानतपः कर्म न त्याज्यं कार्यमेव तत् । यज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव पावनानि मनीषिणाम् ॥ ५ ॥
yajñadānatapaḥ karma na tyājyaṃ kāryam eva tat yajño dānaṃ tapaścaiva pāvanāni manīṣiṇām
Translation
Acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity should not be relinquished, but should be performed; sacrifice, gift and also austerity are the purifiers of the intelligent.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The verdict lands: sacrifice, gift, and austerity are not just permissible but purifying, and should be actively performed rather than dropped. This settles the dispute from verse 3 in favor of the second camp, but with a condition still to come — the purification only holds if performed a certain way, which the very next verse supplies. Pāvanāni manīṣiṇām — “purifiers even of the wise.” Sacrifice, gift, austerity are kept not as obligations but as what cleanses — the same ātma-śuddhi role BG 5.11 gave to action.
Study deeper
Word by word
- yajñadānatapaḥ karmaयज्ञदानतपः कर्म
- acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity (yajña-dāna-tapaḥ + karma)
- na tyājyaṃ kāryam eva tatन त्याज्यं कार्यं एव तत्
- should not be given up — they ought to be done (na + tyājyam + kāryam + eva + tat)
- yajño dānaṃ tapaścaivaयज्ञो दानं तपश्चैव
- sacrifice, gift, and austerity (yajñaḥ + dānam + tapaḥ + ca + eva)
- pāvanāni manīṣiṇāmपावनानि मनीषिणां
- are purifiers of the wise (pāvanāni + manīṣiṇām)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The wording here almost exactly mirrors the second position quoted back in verse 3 — sacrifice, gift, and austerity should not be relinquished — except now it’s stated as Krishna’s own settled view rather than someone else’s claim. Repeating an opponent’s position nearly word for word, only now in your own voice, is a stronger form of agreement than paraphrase would be: it says the other side wasn’t just close, it was exactly right.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you find yourself fully agreeing with a view you'd earlier only heard secondhand, say so in the same precise terms it was first stated, not a vaguer paraphrase — restating something exactly, now as your own, is a stronger form of agreement than a vague nod.
Professional
- When you decide a colleague's proposal is right, restate it back to the team in the same specific terms they used rather than a softened summary — an exact echo, now spoken as your own endorsement, carries more weight than a vague sign-off.
Family & Social
- When someone in your family makes a point you've come to fully agree with, repeat it back in their own terms rather than a generic 'okay, fine' — restating it precisely signals real agreement in a way a vague nod doesn't.
Ask yourself
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