Sanskrit
इष्टान्भोगान्हि वो देवा दास्यन्ते यज्ञभाविताः । तैर्दत्तानप्रदायैभ्यो यो भुङ्क्ते स्तेन एव सः ॥
iṣṭān bhogān hi vo devā dāsyante yajñabhāvitāḥ tair dattān apradāyaibhyo yo bhuṅkte stena eva saḥ
Translation
"For, nourished by sacrifice, the Shining Ones shall bestow on you the enjoyments you desire." A thief verily is he who enjoyeth what is given by Them without returning Them aught.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Prajapati’s quoted speech closes here, and Krishna adds his own blunt gloss immediately after: taking without returning is theft. It’s a sharper indictment than it first appears — this isn’t calling ordinary selfishness merely unwise, it’s calling it stealing from a system the taker is already embedded in and benefiting from. The charge of steya, theft, reframes non-offering as an active wrong, not a neutral omission. One is always already receiving (food, air, the labour of others); to take the return for granted is to help oneself to what was never unconditionally one’s own.
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Word by word
- iṣṭān bhogānइष्टान् भोगान्
- desired enjoyments (iṣṭān + bhogān)
- hi vo devāहि वो देवा
- indeed to you the gods (hi + vaḥ + devāḥ)
- dāsyanteदास्यन्ते
- will give
- yajñabhāvitāḥयज्ञभाविताः
- nourished by sacrifice (yajña-bhāvitāḥ)
- tair dattānतैः दत्तान्
- [things] given by them (taiḥ + dattān)
- apradāyaibhyoअप्रदायैभ्यो
- without offering to them (apradāya + ebhyaḥ)
- yo bhuṅkteयो भुङ्क्ते
- who enjoys (yaḥ + bhuṅkte)
- stena eva saḥस्तेन एव सः
- he is a thief indeed (stenaḥ + eva + saḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The register snaps abruptly here — from Prajapati’s mythic voice to Krishna’s own blunt aside, and from cosmology straight to the word “thief.” The jolt is deliberate: after two verses of elevated origin-story language, calling the taker a common criminal refuses to let the abstraction soften what’s actually being accused.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When you catch yourself benefiting from a system — family, community, a mentor's time — without giving anything back, call it what it is in plain language rather than a softer word. Blunt language about your own behavior is sometimes what actually changes it.
Professional
- When someone on your team consistently takes credit or resources without contributing back, name the pattern in direct terms rather than a euphemism — 'not pulling their weight' obscures what a plainer description would make impossible to ignore.
Family & Social
- When someone in your family repeatedly takes support without ever reciprocating, say so in plain terms rather than a gentler phrase that lets the pattern continue unnamed — directness here isn't cruelty, it's what makes the imbalance visible enough to actually address.
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