Concepts
यज्ञः
yajñaḥ
from √yaj 'to worship, to offer' — the offering that sustains the cosmic exchange. The Gītā widens it from the fire rite to any act performed as offering (3.9), until at 4.24 offering, oblation, fire and offerer are all Brahman.
Yajña sounds like priestcraft — fire, ghee, mantra. The Gītā's own usage keeps the fire and opens the word: work performed as offering binds no one (3.9). By 4.24 the teaching turns total, and the commentators show how far 'sacrifice' now reaches: into Vishnu himself, into scripture-sanctioned professions, into every duty done without claim.
work as yajña binds no one
यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र
लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः
Man is bound by his own action except: when it is performed for the sake of sacrifice. Therefore, Arjuna, do youefficiently perform your duty, free from attachment; for…
offering, oblation, fire, offerer — all Brahman
ब्रह्मार्पणं
ब्रह्महविर्ब्रह्माग्नौ
ब्रह्मणा हुतम्
In the practice of seeing Brahma every- where as a form of sacrifice Brahma is the ladle (with which the oblation is poured into the fire, etc.,); Brahma, again, is the…
the yajña of knowledge surpasses the yajña of things
श्रेयान्द्रव्यमयाद्यज्ञाज्ज्ञानयज्ञः
परन्तप
Arjuna, sacrifice through Knwoledge is superior to sacrifice performed with material Sig things. For all actions without exception culminate in Knowledge, O son of Kunti
Anything offered rather than grabbed. The fire rite is the image; by 3.9 the teaching has widened to any work done as an offering — and it binds no one. Ramsukhdas lists professions outright: business, service, teaching. Jñāneśvar calls plain duty the daily sacrifice. Śaṅkara goes to the root and quotes the śruti — yajña is Vishnu himself. So the question turns around: not 'must I perform rituals?' but 'what is my ordinary day offered to?'
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya · Advaita
Śaṅkara settles the word's weight with a śruti: yajña is not a ceremony but the Lord.
यज्ञो वै विष्णुः इति श्रुतेः यज्ञः ईश्वरः — 'Yajña is Vishnu,' says the śruti: yajña is the Lord himself.
Śaṅkara Bhāṣya on 3.9 (Sanskrit, GitaDeep corpus; working rendering under review)
Śrī Rāmānuja · Viśiṣṭādvaita
Rāmānuja draws the binding line at purpose: the same work, even the same earning, binds or frees by what it is for.
People become subject to the bondage of Karma only when work is done for personal gain, but not when work is performed, or money acquired for the purpose of sacrifice and other acts of charity which are prescribed in the Scriptures.
Gītā-bhāṣya on 3.9 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Śrī Madhvācārya · Dvaita
On 4.24 the Tātparya makes the dependence explicit — everything in the offering, including the offerer's equanimity, subsists on Him.
Offering to Brahman means brahmaarpana. Brahman is the oblation. Brahman is the (sacrificial) fire. Brahman is the performance of actions with the equanimity of intellect. Even equanimity of intellect is subservient to Him
Gītā Tātparya Nirṇaya on 4.24 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Śrī Jñāneśvar · Vārkarī
The Jñāneśvarī moves the altar into daily life: duty itself is the standing sacrifice.
Doing one's duty as laid down by one's religion is in itself the daily propitiatory sacrifice and adherence to it does not involve any sin.
Jñāneśvarī on 3.9, tr. R. K. Bhagwat (GitaDeep corpus)
Swami Ramsukhdas · Sādhak Sañjīvanī
The practice reading enumerates the widened word until it includes a working life.
The term 'Yajña' includes sacrifice, charity, penance, oblation, pilgrimage, fast, study of the Vedas and all physical, mundane and spiritual actions. Professions such as business, service and teaching etc., sanctioned by the scriptures, are also included in 'Yajña'.
Sādhak Sañjīvanī on 3.9 — English translation (GitaDeep corpus)
Where the traditions differ, we show the difference.
