Brahmarpanam: Lyrics and Meaning
ब्रह्मार्पणम्
Bhagavad Gita 4.24; traditionally attributed to the sage Vyasa
Brahmarpanam is verse 24 of chapter 4 of the Bhagavad Gita, said on its own as a prayer. It names every part of an offering as Brahman, the one reality: the act of offering, the thing offered, the fire, and the one who offers. Pujadeep places it among the prayers before meals, so that eating is treated as an offering.
Text and meaning, line by line
Text and layers
Text and layers
These choices stay in this browser.
Verse
ब्रह्मार्पणं ब्रह्म हविर्ब्रह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतम् ।ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना ॥
Brahmarpanam brahma havirbrahmagnau brahmana hutamBrahmaiva tena gantavyam brahmakarmasamadhina
IAST
brahmārpaṇaṃ brahma havirbrahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam |brahmaiva tena gantavyaṃ brahmakarmasamādhinā ||
In simple wordsThe offering, what is offered, the fire and the one who offers are all Brahman, the one truth that is in everything. A person who sees Brahman in everything they do reaches Brahman.
For grown-ups: our full explanation Word by word: brahma-arpaṇam, "the offering (the act, or the ladle that offers) is Brahman"; brahma haviḥ, "the oblation is Brahman"; brahma-agnau, "into the fire that is Brahman"; brahmaṇā, "by Brahman", that is, by the one who offers; hutam, "is offered"; brahma eva, "Brahman alone"; tena, "by him"; gantavyam, "is to be reached"; brahma-karma-samādhinā, "who rests his mind on Brahman in his action". Together: the offering, what is offered, the fire and the one who offers are all Brahman, and the person who sees Brahman in every act reaches Brahman. Said before a meal, the verse treats the food, the eating and the one who eats as an offering. Shankara reads it as the vision of one who knows that all is Brahman; Ramanuja reads it as work done with Brahman as its inner self. Their readings are given with Bhagavad Gita 4.24.
हिंदी अर्थ शब्दार्थ: ब्रह्मार्पणं — अर्पण (अर्पण का कर्म, या आहुति देने का साधन) ब्रह्म है; ब्रह्म हविः — हवि (आहुति) ब्रह्म है; ब्रह्माग्नौ — ब्रह्म रूपी अग्नि में; ब्रह्मणा — ब्रह्म द्वारा, यानी अर्पण करने वाले द्वारा; हुतम् — अर्पित किया गया; ब्रह्म एव — ब्रह्म ही; तेन — उसके द्वारा; गन्तव्यं — पाने योग्य है; ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना — जो कर्म करते हुए मन को ब्रह्म में स्थिर रखता है। भावार्थ: अर्पण, अर्पित वस्तु, अग्नि और अर्पण करने वाला, सब ब्रह्म हैं, और जो हर कर्म में ब्रह्म को देखता है वह ब्रह्म को पाता है। भोजन से पहले बोलने पर यह श्लोक भोजन, खाने की क्रिया और खाने वाले, सबको एक अर्पण मानता है। शंकराचार्य इसे उस ज्ञानी की दृष्टि मानते हैं जो सबको ब्रह्म जानता है; रामानुजाचार्य इसे ऐसा कर्म मानते हैं जिसका अंतरात्मा ब्रह्म है। उनकी व्याख्याएँ गीता 4.24 वाले पृष्ठ पर दी गई हैं।
Word by word
Every word, with its dictionary page
Word by word
- ब्रह्मार्पणम् brahmārpaṇam · the offering is Brahman (compound, nominative singular) Dictionary: brahman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 738, col. 1 “one self-existent impersonal Spirit, the one universal Soul”; arpaṇa, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 92, col. 3 “offering, delivering, consigning, entrusting”
- ब्रह्म brahma · Brahman, the one reality (noun (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: brahman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 738, col. 1 “one self-existent impersonal Spirit, the one universal Soul”
- हविः haviḥ · the oblation, what is offered (noun (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: havis, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1294, col. 1 “an oblation or burnt offering, anything offered as an oblation with fire”
- ब्रह्माग्नौ brahmāgnau · into the fire that is Brahman (compound, locative singular) Dictionary: brahman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 738, col. 1; agni, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 5, col. 1 “fire; sacrificial fire”
- ब्रह्मणा brahmaṇā · by Brahman (the one who offers) (instrumental singular) Dictionary: brahman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 738, col. 1
- हुतम् hutam · is offered (past participle, nominative singular) Dictionary: huta, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1301, col. 1 “offered in fire, poured out (as clarified butter)”
- ब्रह्म brahma · Brahman (noun (neuter), nominative singular) Dictionary: brahman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 738, col. 1
- एव eva · alone, only (indeclinable) Dictionary: 1. eva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 232, col. 2 “just, exactly, very, same, only, even, alone, merely”
- तेन tena · by him (pronoun, instrumental singular) Dictionary: tad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 434, col. 1 “m. he, f. she, n. it, that, this”
- गन्तव्यम् gantavyam · is to be reached (gerundive ('to be done'), nominative singular) Dictionary: gantavya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 347, col. 3 “to be gone to or attained”
- ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना brahmakarmasamādhinā · by one absorbed in Brahman while acting (compound, instrumental singular) Dictionary: brahman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 738, col. 1; karman, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 258, col. 2 “act, action, performance, business”; samādhi, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1159, col. 3 “intense application or fixing the mind on, intentness, attention”
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
Share
Send one picture or the text to one chat. The picture names its source and the address of this page.
Drawing the picture
See the words
Brahmarpanam
ब्रह्मार्पणं ब्रह्म हविर्ब्रह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतम् ।
ब्रह्मैव तेन गन्तव्यं ब्रह्मकर्मसमाधिना ॥
Brahmarpanam brahma havirbrahmagnau brahmana hutam
Brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahmakarmasamadhina
Word by word: brahma-arpaṇam, "the offering (the act, or the ladle that offers) is Brahman"; brahma haviḥ, "the oblation is Brahman"; brahma-agnau, "into the fire that is Brahman"; brahmaṇā, "by Brahman", that is, by the one who offers; hutam, "is offered"; brahma eva, "Brahman alone"; tena, "by him"; gantavyam, "is to be reached"; brahma-karma-samādhinā, "who rests his mind on Brahman in his action". Together: the offering, what is offered, the fire and the one who offers are all Brahman, and the person who sees Brahman in every act reaches Brahman. Said before a meal, the verse treats the food, the eating and the one who eats as an offering. Shankara reads it as the vision of one who knows that all is Brahman; Ramanuja reads it as work done with Brahman as its inner self. Their readings are given with Bhagavad Gita 4.24.
(Meaning written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition.)
Text: G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922 (public domain).
https://pujadeep.com/prayers/brahmarpanam/ Nothing is sent from this site. Your own app sends it, to the chat you choose.
About the Brahmarpanam
An English book on Hindu daily worship, printed at Allahabad in 1918, gives this verse as "the great consecration mantra": it is said over the things offered in worship, among them food and drink, before the worshipper meditates on Brahman.
The same verse, with two old English translations and the readings of Shankara (Advaita) and Ramanuja (Vishishtadvaita), is on its own page in the Bhagavad Gita: chapter 4, verse 24. This page gives the Sanskrit, the meaning of each word and the sense of the whole. The Sanskrit is read from a Madras printing of the Gita of 1922.
How to say it
Sanskrit is spoken as written: every vowel is sounded, and long vowels (ā, ī, ū) are held about twice as long as short ones. Words join in recitation: havirbrahmāgnau is haviḥ + brahma-agnau, and brahmaiva is brahma + eva. The ṃ of brahmārpaṇaṃ and gantavyaṃ is said as m before a vowel or a pause. The IAST line shows every sound.
More daily prayers: on waking, before study, before meals and at lamp-lighting
Related
Questions families ask
Who wrote the Brahmarpanam?
Bhagavad Gita 4.24; traditionally attributed to the sage Vyasa.
Which text does this page follow?
Sanskrit text: The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation, 1922. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Source and licence
- Text
- The Bhagavad-Gita, or The Lord's Song, with the text in Devanagari and an English translation (Annie Besant, G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras, 1922). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 14, 2026.
- Updated
- October 27, 2026