Bhagavad Gītā › Chapter 3 › Verse 14
Bhagavad Gītā 3.14: Food, rain and offering
अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः ।
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥
annādbhavanti bhūtāni parjanyādannasambhavaḥ
yajñādbhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karmasamudbhavaḥ
Recitation: NehalDaveND (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 4.0, adapted, original recording
Meaning
From food arise beings; from rain arises food; from sacrifice arises rain; and sacrifice is born of action. The traditional chain links human action, through offering, to the rain and harvest that sustain life; read more broadly, it pictures the world as an interdependent cycle in which right action has its place.
For children
Krishna says: “We grow from food. Food grows with rain. Everything is joined together in a big circle, and our good actions are part of it.”
Kṛṣṇa explains why yajña matters: it is part of the cycle that sustains all life (3.14–3.16).
Word by word
अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि — Living beings come from food
- anna: food
- bhavanti: come into being
- bhūta: living being
पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः — food comes from rain
- parjanya: rain, rain cloud
- sambhava: arising
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो — rain comes from offering
- yajña: offering, sacrifice
- bhavati: comes
यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः — and offering is born of action
- karman: action
- samudbhava: born from
Kṛṣṇa speaks this verse. The Sanskrit is checked against four editions; meanings and word notes are simple learning aids written for MahaPrabha Gurukul, awaiting review by a Sanskrit teacher.