Sanskrit
यज्ञशिष्टामृतभुजो यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनम् । नायं लोकोऽस्त्ययज्ञस्य कुतोऽन्यः कुरुसत्तम ॥
yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujo yānti brahma sanātanam nāyaṃ loko 'sty ayajñasya kuto 'nyaḥ kuru-sattama
Translation
The eaters of the life-giving remains of sacrifice go to the changeless Eternal. This world is not for the non-sacrificer, much less the other, O best of the Kurus.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Having eaten the amṛta — the consecrated remains left over once an offering is made — the sacrificer moves toward the changeless Brahman; the one who never sacrifices at all, by contrast, forfeits not just liberation but this world too. That second clause is the sharper claim: it isn’t just that non-sacrifice fails to earn a good afterlife, it denies a livable present as well, treating yajña — in the now much-widened sense the last several verses have built up — as basic infrastructure for existing well at all, not an optional spiritual upgrade reserved for the next life. The phrase re-uses BG 3.13’s “eaters of the leftover of sacrifice” and pushes it further: na ayaṃ lokaḥ — a life of pure taking is not even a good this-worldly life. Yajña is presented as the condition of a coherent existence, not its reward.
Study deeper
Word by word
- yajña-śiṣṭāmṛta-bhujoयज्ञ-शिष्टामृत-भुजो
- eaters of the nectar-remnant of sacrifice (yajña-śiṣṭa-amṛta-bhujaḥ)
- yānti brahma sanātanamयान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनं
- go to the eternal Brahman (yānti + brahma + sanātanam)
- nāyaṃ loko 'sty ayajñasyaनायं लोको ऽस्त्य् अयज्ञस्य
- this world is not the non-sacrificer's (na + ayam + lokaḥ + asti + ayajñasya)
- kuto 'nyaḥ kuru-sattamaकुतो ऽन्यः कुरु-सत्तम
- how then the other, O best of Kurus (kutaḥ + anyaḥ + kuru-sattama)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The line reads as a general principle about sacrifice and the cosmos, until the last word, kuru-sattama, “best of the Kurus,” turns it back into something Krishna is saying directly to Arjuna, standing on an actual battlefield. Nothing else in the verse needed the address; the teaching would have worked as pure abstraction. The vocative is the sentence’s reminder that abstraction was never really the point — a general truth is being aimed, deliberately, at one specific person’s specific hesitation.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When you tell yourself a general life principle — 'stay consistent,' 'don't quit' — attach it explicitly to the actual decision in front of you rather than leaving it as an abstraction you agree with in theory; a truth aimed at your specific situation does more work than the same truth left general.
Professional
- When you state a general policy or principle to your team, name the specific situation it's meant to address rather than leaving it as an abstract statement everyone nods at; the same words land very differently once someone can tell it was aimed at their actual, current decision.
Family & Social
- When you offer a piece of general wisdom to someone close to you who's struggling, tie it explicitly to their specific situation rather than delivering it as generic advice — the same words addressed to their actual circumstance carry weight the abstract version never will.
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