Chapter 3Verse 10 of 43

Bhagavad Gita 3.10

सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः । अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ॥

saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ | anena prasaviṣyadhvam eṣa vo 'stv iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk ||

Translation

The lord of beings, having in the beginning created men together with sacrifice, said: By this shall you multiply; let this be the cow of plenty for your desires.

Krishna reaches back to the beginning. Prajapati, the lord of creatures, creates beings and sacrifice together. They were not invented separately. Saha-yajñāḥ, with sacrifice. The cow of wishes, kāma-dhuk, is given on a condition: this is how the increase works. The verse moves the conversation from individual to cosmological. The student wanted to know whether he should act. The teacher answers by widening the frame: the wheel of give-and-take is older than the question. Aurobindo: the cosmos is built on circulation, not accumulation. The verse is the first turn of the wheel that will define the next six.

Reflection

What have you been receiving without noticing that something has to turn for it to arrive?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Three

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