17.28 Without faith, it is nothing Krishna speaks
अश्रद्धया हुतं दत्तं तपस्तप्तं कृतं च यत्
असदित्युच्यते पार्थ न च तत्प्रेत्य नो इह
aśhraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapas taptaṁ kṛitaṁ cha yat
asad ity uchyate pārtha na cha tat pretya no iha
But an offering made, a gift given, an austerity practised or an act done without faith is called Asat, Arjuna. It is nothing here, and nothing beyond.
Explanation
The harshest verse in the chapter, and it is the last one.
asat — not real. An offering made, a gift given, an austerity practised without faith is nothing here and nothing beyond.
Which answers Arjuna's opening question by inverting it. He asked where the sincere but unscripted stand; the chapter grades their faith, and then says the correctly performed act without faith does not count at all.
Going further
Word by word
- aśhraddhayā
- without faith
- hutam
- sacrifice
- dattam
- charity
- tapaḥ
- penance
- taptam
- practiced
- kṛitam
- done
- cha
- and
- yat
- which
- asat
- perishable
- iti
- thus
- uchyate
- are termed as
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- na
- not
- cha
- and
- tat
- that
- pretya
- in the next world
- na u
- not
- iha
- in this world
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Asat — not real. An offering made, a gift given, an austerity practised without faith is nothing here and nothing beyond.
The harshest verse in the chapter, and it is aimed at the correctly performed act. Everything can be right — the place, the time, the words, the recipient — and if the faith is absent the whole thing is described as not having happened.