A core teaching · reflective in mood · easy to enter
“Ritual without trust becomes empty and heavy.”
They call a sacrifice dark when it lacks scriptural rule, food offering, mantra, fee, and trust.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallywithout rule · without offered food · without mantra · without fee · without trust · sacrifice · dark · they call
A sacrifice done without proper guidance, offering, mantra, giving, or trust is called dark and lifeless.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga" (The Three Kinds of Faith).
Verse 13 sits in Chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita — Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga, "The Three Kinds of Faith". The chapter has 28 verses in total.
You light a candle, say the words, and still feel nothing because your attention never arrived. A practice done on autopilot may look complete, yet it carries no real force.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts the mind from outward performance to inward sincerity.
What this verse means
A sacrifice done without proper guidance, offering, mantra, giving, or trust is called dark and lifeless.
Context & commentary
On the Kurukshetra battlefield, Krishna is classifying the three kinds of sacrifice for Arjuna. After describing pure and driven offerings, he names the lowest form: a ritual performed mechanically, without trust or reverence, which cannot uplift the one who performs it.
Why this verse still matters
You light a candle, say the words, and still feel nothing because your attention never arrived. A practice done on autopilot may look complete, yet it carries no real force.
“What you do matters less than the sincerity and care you bring to it.”
Explore related themes: shraddha (34 verses), yajna (32 verses), tamas (18 verses)