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Adhyāyas / Śraddhātraya-Vibhāga Yogaḥ / verse 4

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
यजन्ते सात्त्विका देवान्यक्षरक्षांसि राजसाः। प्रेतान्भूतगणांश्चान्ये यजन्ते तामसा जनाः
yajante sāttvikā devān yakṣha-rakṣhānsi rājasāḥ pretān bhūta-gaṇānśh chānye yajante tāmasā janāḥ
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

Those with sattva quality worship the gods; those with rajas, the demigods and demons; and those with tamas, ghosts and hosts of spirits.

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

सात्त्विक पुरुष देवताओं को पूजते हैं और राजस लोग यक्ष और राक्षसों को, तथा अन्य तामसी जन प्रेत और भूतगणों को पूजते हैं।।

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
यजन् ते सात् त्विका देवान्
यक् षरक् षां सि राजसाः
प्रेतान् भूत गणांश् चान् ये
यजन् ते तामसा जनाः
॥ ४ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
yajanteworship
sāttvikāḥthose in the mode of goodness
devāncelestial gods
yakṣhasemi-celestial beings who exude power and wealth
rakṣhānsipowerful beings who embody sensual enjoyment, revenge, and wrath
rājasāḥthose in the mode of passion
pretān-bhūta-gaṇānghosts and spirits
chaand
anyeothers
yajanteworship
tāmasāḥthose in the mode of ignorance
janāḥpersons

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
17.3–17.13Faith, food and sacrifice classified.

“As is a man’s faith, so verily is he (śraddhā-mayo’yaṃ puruṣaḥ): what his faith is, that he is” (17.3) — one of the Gītā’s most quoted lines, and a whole psychology in seven words. K then applies the threefold analysis: the object of worship (17.4) — the sattvic worship the devas (the higher, ordering powers); the rajasic, the yakṣas and rakṣas (powers of wealth and force); the tamasic, ghosts and spirits (the dark and confused). Food (17.8–10) — the sattvic prefer foods that promote life, strength, health, cheer — savoury, wholesome, nourishing; the rajasic crave the bitter, sour, salty, burning-hot, harsh, which breed pain and disease; the tamasic take the stale, tasteless, putrid, left-over and impure. Sacrifice (17.11–13) — the sattvic offer as duty, without desire for fruit, according to the ordinance; the rajasic offer for show and with an eye to reward; the tamasic offer without faith, without gifts, without sacred word or rule. Note how the analysis reaches even to the plate: the Gītā takes seriously that what we eat shapes the mind that worships (recall “what we eat, we become”, 3.12). Spirituality here is not walled off from diet, motive and manner; the guṇa pervades the whole.