Adhiyajña and the six terms (अधियज्ञ)
BG 8.1–BG 8.2: Arjuna fires off six terms that chapter 7 had ended on and asks what each means. Krishna answers them in a compressed burst, BG 8.3–BG 8.4: the imperishable supreme is Brahman; its expression as the individual self is adhyātma; the creative force that sends beings forth is karma; the perishable nature is adhibhūta; the cosmic person is adhidaiva; and “I myself am adhiyajña, here in the body” — the divine presence that receives every sacrifice.
One reality, indexed to a domain
The list is best read as a single thing seen through six windows: the Absolute as such (brahman), as it shows up in a person (adhyātma), as the impulse behind manifestation (karma), as the material world (adhibhūta), as the presiding cosmic form (adhidaiva), and as the recipient inside every ritual and every act offered up (adhiyajña). The reason Arjuna needs them defined is practical — chapter 8’s real subject is what one should hold in mind at the hour of death, and these six are the coordinates for that.
Related
- Akṣara (अक्षर) — chapter 8’s governing term; the “imperishable Brahman” the other five are aspects of
- Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) — adhiyajña and its five companions are Brahman under different descriptions
- Prayāṇa-kāla (प्रयाणकाल) — the six terms are set up so the death-remembrance teaching that follows has something definite to be about
Verses that reference this
They who know Me as the knowledge of the elements, as that of the Shining Ones, and as that of the Sacrifice, they harmonised in mind, know Me verily even in the time of forthgoing.
What is that Eternal, what Self-knowledge, what Action, O Purushottama? And what is declared to be the knowledge of the Elements, what is called the knowledge of the Shining Ones?
What is the knowledge of Sacrifice in this body, and how, O, Madhusûdana? And how, at the time of forthgoing art Thou known by the Self-controlled?
Knowledge of the Elements concerns My perishable nature, and knowledge of the Shining Ones concerns the life-giving energy; the knowledge of Sacrifice tells of Me, as wearing the body, O best of living beings.