3.14 — Food, rain and the turning wheel

Sanskrit · Teaching film · Everyday practice

Speaker: Krishna, addressing Arjuna.

The shloka

अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः ।
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः ॥ १४ ॥

Brief meaning

Beings arise from food, food from rain, rain from yajña, and yajña is born of action.

In the conversation

Krishna praises those who eat what remains after offering, and traces a cycle: beings live on food, food comes from rain, rain from yajña, and yajña from action. That action is rooted in sacred knowledge and the imperishable. Whoever refuses to take part in this turning wheel, and lives only for pleasure, lives in vain.

Word by word

अन्नात् भवन्ति भूतानि

From food, beings come into being;

पर्जन्यात् अन्नसम्भवः

from rain, food is produced;

यज्ञात् भवति पर्जन्यः

from yajña comes rain;

यज्ञः कर्मसमुद्भवः

and yajña is born of action.

Going deeper

Yajña śiṣṭa means what remains after the offering. This idea lives on in the custom of prasāda, food offered first and then shared. The cakra, the wheel, links food, rain, offering and action into one turning cycle. Akṣara means the imperishable, and Brahman here is often read as the Veda. Moghaṃ means in vain: a life that only takes from the wheel misses its purpose.

Everyday reflection

In many homes a first portion of food is offered before anyone eats. The gesture is small, yet it places the meal within a larger story of rain, soil, labour and grace. Try it today, in whatever form fits your tradition: a pause, a prayer, a word of thanks. Notice whether eating feels different afterwards. Where does your daily life connect with the cycle that sustains everyone?

Consider today: Trace one meal back to the rain, soil and people behind it.