यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥
All beings arise from food. Food comes from rain. Rain comes from sacrifice. Sacrifice arises from action.
A core teaching · grounding in mood · a little context helps
“Action sustains the cycle that makes life possible.”
All beings arise from food. Food comes from rain. Rain comes from sacrifice. Sacrifice arises from action.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyfrom food · come into being · beings · from rain · food-born · from sacrifice · comes · rain · sacrifice · action-born
Life depends on a chain: food comes from rain, rain comes from sacrifice, and sacrifice comes from action.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Karma Yoga" (The Yoga of Action).
Verse 14 sits in Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita — Karma Yoga, "The Yoga of Action". The chapter has 43 verses in total.
You open the fridge after a long week and forget the path behind that meal: weather, work, trade, care. One careless act can still belong to a larger system.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from private consumption to the shared systems your actions sustain.
What this verse means
Life depends on a chain: food comes from rain, rain comes from sacrifice, and sacrifice comes from action.
Context & commentary
On the battlefield, Arjuna is frozen while Krishna explains how human life is held together. This verse begins the chain linking food, rain, sacrifice, and action, showing that personal conduct affects the whole order.
Why this verse still matters
You open the fridge after a long week and forget the path behind that meal: weather, work, trade, care. One careless act can still belong to a larger system.
“Your actions are not isolated; they feed the whole web that sustains life.”
Explore related themes: yajna (32 verses), karma (11 verses)