A declaration · expansive in mood · a little context helps
“The divine is already working inside your body as life itself.”
I become the digestive fire within living beings, joined with the outgoing and incoming breaths, and digest the four kinds of food.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyI · the digestive fire · having become · of living beings · the body · dwelling in · joined with the inward and outward breaths · I digest · food · of four kinds
Krishna says he lives inside every body as the force that digests food, working through the breaths that sustain life.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Purushottama Yoga" (The Yoga of the Supreme Person).
Verse 14 sits in Chapter 15 of the Bhagavad Gita — Purushottama Yoga, "The Yoga of the Supreme Person". The chapter has 20 verses in total.
You sit at a table after a hard day, too tired to think, and your body still quietly does its work. Even that hidden, ordinary functioning is not outside the sacred.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from a distant divinity to the living processes already sustaining you.
What this verse means
Krishna says he lives inside every body as the force that digests food, working through the breaths that sustain life.
Context & commentary
On the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna still stands frozen while Krishna explains how the supreme reality is present everywhere. After speaking of light, earth, and nourishment, Krishna says he also works inside every living body as the fire that digests food.
Why this verse still matters
You sit at a table after a hard day, too tired to think, and your body still quietly does its work. Even that hidden, ordinary functioning is not outside the sacred.
“Ordinary bodily life is not separate from the divine presence.”