9.24
Chapter 9, Verse 24
अहं हि सर्वयज्ञानां भोक्ता च प्रभुरेव च। न तु मामभिजानन्ति तत्त्वेनातश्च्यवन्ति ते৷৷
ahaṅ hi sarvayajñānāṅ bhōktā ca prabhurēva ca. na tu māmabhijānanti tattvēnātaścyavanti tē৷৷
Translation
I am the willing recipient of sacrifice, and I am its true Lord. But these do not know me in truth, and so they sink back.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
अहम् I, हि verily, सर्वयज्ञानाम् of all sacrifices, भोक्ता enjoyer, च and, प्रभुः Lord, एव alone, च and, न not, तु but, माम् Me, अभिजानन्ति know, तत्त्वेन in essence (or in reality), अतः hence, च्यवन्ति fall, ते they. Commentary: They do not know that I, the Supreme Self, am the enjoyer of all sacrifices enjoined in the Vedas and the Smritis (the codes of right conduct) and the Lord of all sacrifices. As I am the inner Ruler of this world I am the Lord of all sacrifices (Vide chapter VIII. 4 -- Adhiyajnohamevatra I am the presiding deity of the sacrifice). I am at the beginning and at the end of every sacrifice and yet these people worship other gods. Therefore they worship in ignorance. As they worhsip other gods without recognising Me, and as they have not consecrated their actions to Me, they return to this mortal world after their merits are exhausted from the plane to which they had attained as the result of their sacrifices.Those who are devoted to other gods and who worship Me in ignorance (Avidhipurvakam) also get the fruit of sacrifice. How (Cf.V.29XV.9)
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.