Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9, Verse 16 (BG 9.16) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

In this verse, the thought expressed here was also articulated in a celebrated verse before this. Through the metaphor of the ritual of sacrifice and the various materials employed within it, this verse conveys the understanding of the atman's all-pervading nature and its universal essence. The performance of rituals as described in the ritual sections of the scriptures constitutes the method of worship. The sacrifice enjoined in the Vedas is called kratu, and the action prescribed in the dharma-shastras is called yajna. Such sacrifices were performed during the age of the Mahabharata. The food offered to the ancestors is called swadha. Here in the teaching to Arjuna, it is revealed that all these sacrifices and rituals are myself. Not only this, but the herbs used in the sacrifice, the clarified butter (ghee) offered as oblation into the fire, the fire itself, the mantras chanted in the performance of action, and the ritual of sacrifice—all these in their various forms are expressions of the atman alone. Just as when many ornaments are fashioned from gold, gold itself can truly say: "I am the earring, I am the ring, I am the necklace, I am the lustre of all these," and so forth—in the same way, because the atman is the essential truth underlying all forms and all phenomena, the statement of Bhagavan Sri Krishna will be acceptable to all readers through philosophical understanding.