Sanskrit
अहं हि सर्वयज्ञानां भोक्ता च प्रभुरेव च । न तु मामभिजानन्ति तत्त्वेनातश्च्यवन्ति ते ॥
ahaṃ hi sarvayajñānāṃ bhoktā ca prabhur eva ca na tu mām abhijānanti tattvenātaś cyavanti te
Translation
I am indeed the enjoyer of all sacrifices and also the Lord, but they know Me not in Essence, and hence they fall.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The metaphysical payoff for verse 23: since Krishna is “the enjoyer and Lord of all sacrifices” without exception, no ritual object genuinely bypasses him — the failure described here is entirely epistemic (na tu mām abhijānanti, “they do not know Me in truth”), not transactional. They “fall” (cyavanti) because a worldview that stops at the intermediate deity forecloses the very relationship that would otherwise deliver more than a temporary reward, echoing the heaven-then-return structure verse 21 just laid out. Cyavanti — “they slip, they fall away” — is the same verb used for merit running out in BG 9.21. The loss here is not a punishment but the ceiling that comes with stopping at the intermediate deity.
Study deeper
Word by word
- ahaṃ hi sarvayajñānāṃअहं हि सर्वयज्ञानां
- for I am, of all sacrifices (aham + hi + sarva-yajñānām)
- bhoktā ca prabhur eva caभोक्ता च प्रभुः एव च
- the enjoyer and the lord (bhoktā + ca + prabhuḥ + eva + ca)
- na tu mām abhijānantiन तु मां अभिजानन्ति
- but they do not know Me (na + tu + mām + abhijānanti)
- tattvenātaś cyavanti teतत्त्वेनातश् च्यवन्ति ते
- in truth; therefore they fall (tattvena + ataḥ + cyavanti + te)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The failure named here isn’t behavioral, it’s a stopping point: cyavanti, “they fall,” describes what happens to someone who mistakes the intermediary for the destination and simply stops looking further. It’s less a punishment than a description of what happens automatically for anyone whose model of the transaction terminates one level too early.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When pursuing something meaningful, check whether you've mistaken an intermediate step for the actual destination — stopping your inquiry one level too early can cost you the deeper payoff, even when nothing you did was technically wrong.
Professional
- When a project succeeds by a proxy metric, verify the proxy actually connects to the real goal before declaring victory — stopping the analysis one level too early is a common, easy-to-miss failure mode.
Family & Social
- When you think you understand what someone needs from you, ask whether you've stopped one layer too early — the visible request is often standing in for something underneath it.
Ask yourself
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