Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 17, Verse 27

यज्ञे तपसि दाने च स्थितिः सदिति चोच्यते । कर्म चैव तदर्थीयं सदित्येवाभिधीयते

yajñe tapasi dāne ca sthitiḥ saditi cocyate | karma caiva tadarthīyaṃ sadityevābhidhīyate

Translation

Devotion to sacrifice, austerity and gift is also spoken of as 'Sat'; and even action in connection with these is called 'Sat.'

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

yajñe

in sacrifice

tapasi

in austerity

dāne

in gift

ca

and

sthitiḥ

firmness

sat

true

iti

thus

ca

and

ucyate

is called

karma

action

ca

and

eva

even

tadarthīyam

that, the meaning, whose, it

sat

Being

iti

thus

eva

even

abhidhīyate

is named

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Sacrifice: the act of sacrifice. "Spoken of": by the learned. "These": sacrifice, gift and austerity. Or, 'tad-arthīyaṃ karma' may be interpreted to mean action for the sake of the Lord whose triple designation is the subject of treatment here. These acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity — even such of them as are not of the Sāttvic class and are imperfect — turn out to be Sāttvic and perfect ones, on applying to them with faith the triple designation of Brahman.