Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Verse 25

दैवमेवापरे यज्ञं योगिनः पर्युपासते । ब्रह्माग्नावपरे यज्ञं यज्ञेनैवोपजुह्वति

daivamevāpare yajñaṃ yoginaḥ paryupāsate | brahmāgnāvapare yajñaṃ yajñenaivopajuhvati

Translation

Other Yogins resort to sacrifices to Gods; in the fire of Brahman others offer the Self by the Self.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

daivam

divine

eva

only

apare

some

yajñam

sacrifice

yoginaḥ

yogis

paryupāsate

practise

brahmāgnau

of Brahman, in the fire

apare

others

yajñam

sacrifice

yajñena

by sacrifice

eva

even

upajuhvati

offer up

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Some Yogins, devotees to action, perform only sacrificial rites in devotion to the Gods, while others who know Brahman, the Absolute, sacrifice the Self by the Self in the fire of Brahman. The oblation (āhuti) in this latter sacrifice is yajña, the Self, who is in reality one with Brahman but who is conditioned by the upādhis (such as buddhi) with all their attributes superimposed upon Him. This oblation of the Self is poured by the Self into Brahman — here termed fire, the place into which that oblation is poured. To know the conditioned Self as identical with the unconditioned Brahman is to sacrifice the Self in Brahman.