Gita : Ch-9. Slo-16.

Srimad Bhagavad-Gita :


Chapter-9. ( Raja-vidya-raja-guhya-yogam )


Slokam-16. ( But it is I who am the ritual, I the sacrifice, the offering to the ancestors, the healing herb, the transcendental  chant. I am the butter and the fire and the offering. )



aham   kraturaham   yajnah   svadhahamahamaushadham,



mantrohamahamevajyam     ahamagniraham    hutam.



kratuah    aham  =  I  am  the  Vedic  yaga;


yajnah   aham  = I  am  the  yajna  or  karma  or  daily  activities;


svadha   aham  =  I  am  the  food  for  pithru-karma;


 aushadham   aham  =   I  am  the  heling  property  of  the  medicine;


 mantrah  aham    ajyam   aham   =   I  am  the  mantra-s  chanted  in  vedic  rituals,  and  the  ghee  poured  in  the  homam  too;

agniah  aham  hutam  aham  eva  =  I  am  the  fire  in  the  homam  and  the  offerings  in  the  homam  too.



Lord Krishna being the universal self is being declared in this verse and the next three.

He states He is Kratu or Vedic rituals such as agnistoma or fire offerings.

He is also Yagna or offerings of propitiation prescribed in the Vedic scriptures known as Smritis or those books of Vedic injunctions and knowledge which has been remembered and recorded throughout history.

He is sraddha or the oblations to the departed ancestors.

He is the healing potency within medicinal herbs in the forests.

He is the mantra or sacred Vedic invocations recited in exact meter of great potency uttered at the commencement of any Vedic ritual and during its performance.

He is also the ghee or clarified butter extracted exclusively from the milk of cow which being offered into the fire validates the right and gives the means for a yagna to be performed.

So He is verily the fire, the offering put into the fire and the yagna as well.




Lord Krishna elaborates on the many aspects of His diversity in this verse and the next three.

He states that He is Kratu or Vedic rituals, Yagna or Vedic offerings,

Sraddha or Vedic oblations to the departed ancestors, asudham or the potency of the medicinal healing herb, the mantra or the sacred Sanskrit chant of invocation recited by duly bonafide Brahmins from one of the four authorised sampradayas or lines of disciplic succession.

He is also aijam or ghee which is clarified butter exclusively from the cow which without no Vedic yagna can be authentically performed.

He is the Ahavaniya fire which is ignited from the consecrated fire and He is the act of offering the oblations into the fire and the ritual itself.



So in this verse Lord Krishna describes some of His qualities concerning Vedic rituals.

He is Kratu or Vedic rituals like Jyotishtoma which awards Swarga the heavenly planets,

He is Yagna or the act of daily propitiation enjoined in the Vedic scriptures,

He is Sraddha the food oblations offered to the departed ancestors and presiding deities,

He is ausadham the potency within the healing medicinal herb,

He is the mantra or the sacred verses chanted at the performance of all Vedic rituals,

He is ajam or the ghee which is clarified butter extracted exclusively from cows milk.

He is the fire known as Ahavaniyas the sacrificial fire ignited from the consecrated fire.

He is hutam denoting homan or the oblations offered into the fire and the ritual itself.

To be continued  ...