Sanskrit
सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः । अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ॥
sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ anena prasaviṣyadhvam eṣa vo'stv iṣṭakāmadhuk
Translation
Having in ancient times emanated mankind together with sacrifice, the Lord of emanation said: "By this shall ye propagate; be this to you the giver of desire;
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna backs verse 9’s claim with an origin myth: Prajapati created humanity together with sacrifice built in, not added on. The quoted speech opening here runs through verse 12 in the source text — the old typesetting reopens the quotation mark at the start of each verse it spans, and only closes once the mythic charter is complete. The argument being built is that yajna isn’t a human invention layered onto self-interested action; it’s the original condition of action itself.