Sanskrit
ज्ञानयज्ञेन चाप्यन्ये यजन्तो मामुपासते । एकत्वेन पृथक्त्वेन बहुधा विश्वतोमुखम् ॥
jñānayajñena cāpy anye yajanto mām upāsate ekatvena pṛthaktvena bahudhā viśvatomukham
Translation
Others also, sacrificing with the sacrifice of wisdom, worship Me as the One and the Manifold everywhere present.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Introduces a second mode of worship alongside the devotion of verses 13-14 — “the sacrifice of wisdom” (jñāna-yajñena), worshipping Krishna as simultaneously the One and the Manifold. It’s a notably non-exclusive move: the chapter doesn’t insist on a single correct metaphysics of Krishna, monist or pluralist, only that the worship be genuine — which opens the door to the more expansive identifications of verses 16-19. Ekatvena pṛthaktvena — “as one, as many” — leaves the metaphysics deliberately open: the jñāna-yajña worshipper may hold Krishna as non-dual ground or as the plural face of things, and either lands. Verses 16–19 supply the “many” in full.
Study deeper
Word by word
- jñānayajñena cāpy anyeज्ञानयज्ञेन चाप्य् अन्ये
- others, by the sacrifice of knowledge (jñāna-yajñena + ca + api + anye)
- yajanto mām upāsateयजन्तो मां उपासते
- worshipping, adore Me (yajantaḥ + mām + upāsate)
- ekatvena pṛthaktvenaएकत्वेन पृथक्त्वेन
- as the One, as the manifold (ekatvena + pṛthaktvena)
- bahudhā viśvatomukhamबहुधा विश्वतोमुखं
- in many ways, facing everywhere (bahudhā + viśvataḥ-mukham)
Commentary
Site Commentary
“Sacrifice of wisdom” (jñāna-yajñena) borrows the vocabulary of ritual for something that involves no altar or offering at all. It’s the same move the next four verses make in reverse — there, Krishna claims to BE the ritual’s actual components. Between this verse and those, the boundary between performing a ritual and understanding rightly quietly dissolves; both get called by the same word.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice when you've drawn a hard line between the meaningful practice and just thinking about it — sustained, honest reflection can be its own real practice, not a lesser stand-in for a more visible ritual version of self-improvement.
Professional
- Don't treat deep understanding of a system as separate from doing the real work of building or operating it — genuinely knowing why something works is itself a form of the discipline, not a substitute you do instead of the actual engineering.
Family & Social
- Understanding someone deeply, really working to know what they need, counts as an act of care in its own right, not merely a preamble to the caring actions you eventually take.
Ask yourself
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