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VerseThe Delight of Krishna

Verse 3·13

Those who eat food not offered perish in sin

Verse

यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः ।भुञ्जते ते त्वघं पापा ये पचन्त्यात्मकारणात् ॥

yajñaśiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarvakilbiṣaiḥbhuñjate te tvaghaṃ pāpā ye pacantyātmakāraṇāt

The good who eat what is left from the sacrifice, are released from all sin; but evil are they and enjoy sin who cook (the food) for their own sake.

Gītā 3·13

He recognises that his life is a part of this divine action in Nature and not a thing separate and to be held and pursued for its own sake. He regards his enjoyments and the satisfaction of his desires as the fruit of sacrifice and the gift of the gods in their divine universal workings and he ceases to pursue them in the false and evil spirit of sinful egoistic selfishness as if they were a good to be seized from life by his own unaided strength without return and without thankfulness. As this spirit increases in him, he subordinates his desires, becomes satisfied with sacrifice as the law of life and works and is content with whatever remains over from the sacrifice, giving up all the rest freely as an offering in the great and beneficent interchange between his life and the world-life. Whoever goes contrary to this law of action and pursues works and enjoyment for his own isolated personal self-interest, lives in vain; he misses the true meaning and aim and utility of living and the upward growth of the soul; he is not on the path which leads to the highest good.

CWSA 19 · Essays on the Gita · p. 118

From The Delight of Krishna · Bhagavad Gītā · in the light of Sri Aurobindo · incarnateword.in