यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः ।तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ॥
yajñārthātkarmaṇo’nyatra loko’yaṃ karmabandhanaḥtadarthaṃ karma kaunteya muktasaṅgaḥ samācara
By doing works otherwise than for sacrifice, this world of men is in bondage to works; for sacrifice practise works, O son of Kunti, becoming free from all attachment.
Gītā 3·9The Gita’s theory of sacrifice is stated in two separate passages; one we find in the third chapter, another in the fourth; the first gives it in language which might, taken by itself, seem to be speaking only of the ceremonial sacrifice; the second interpreting that into the sense of a large philosophical symbolism, transforms at once its whole significance and raises it to a plane of high psychological and spiritual truth.
