Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 9 · Verse 26

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं

A source-grounded reference to Krishna’s statement about a leaf, flower, fruit, or water offered with devotion. The verse is read here inside Bhagavad Gita 9.25–9.27, not as a transactional recipe for buying divine favor or guaranteeing worldly results.

Canonical SanskritIASTKrishna · Bhagavad GitaVerified 25 August 2026

Canonical text

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति ।
तदहं भक्त्युपहृतमश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः ॥९.२६॥

IAST transliteration

patraṃ puṣpaṃ phalaṃ toyaṃ yo me bhaktyā prayacchati |
tad ahaṃ bhakty-upahṛtam aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ || 9.26 ||

Text witness note: SlokaSandra preserves the verse as printed in the Sanskrit Wikisource Bhagavad Gita chapter 9 witness and independently checks the Devanagari and chapter position against the public-domain Annie Besant edition on English Wikisource. The IAST separates some sandhi for readability; it is a transliteration of the checked Sanskrit, not a replacement canonical text.

Phrase by phrase

Read the offering together with devotion and the person offering it

The four familiar objects are easy to remember, but the second half of the verse prevents a responsible reading from reducing Bhagavad Gita 9.26 to a shopping list.

patraṃ · puṣpaṃ · phalaṃ · toyam

A leaf, flower, fruit, or water

The verse names ordinary, readily intelligible forms of offering. Their simplicity is important in traditional commentary, but SlokaSandra does not turn this list into a universal rule that every lineage, temple, home practice, deity tradition, or ritual accepts only these four objects.

yo me

Whoever, to Me

Krishna is the first-person speaker within the Gita dialogue. The grammar keeps the offering relational and devotional. This is not a generic formula claiming that any desired recipient or outcome becomes available whenever an object is presented.

bhaktyā prayacchati

Offers with devotion

Bhaktyā is instrumental: the offering is made with devotion. Both Shankara and Ramanuja give devotion decisive weight, even though their larger theological frameworks differ. The verse therefore cannot responsibly be read as “the right object forces the result.”

tad ahaṃ

That, I

The second line returns to Krishna’s first-person acceptance. The statement belongs to the chapter’s theology of worship and orientation. It is not a neutral promise about food, health, finance, luck, examinations, business, court cases, or physical safety.

bhakty-upahṛtam

Brought or presented in devotion

The compound repeats the devotional qualification. The verse does not merely mention devotion once and then move on to the physical item; the manner and intention of offering remain part of the sentence.

aśnāmi

I receive / partake

Traditional translators and commentators render the verb with nuances such as eat, partake, accept, or receive. SlokaSandra keeps the theological statement visible without inventing a physical mechanism or claiming that every ritual offering will produce a measurable worldly event.

prayatātmanaḥ

Of the disciplined or purified-hearted person

Shankara glosses the expression in terms of a purified understanding. Ramanuja also links the person’s state to the devotional intention of the offering. The word should not be flattened into a modern purity test used to judge another person’s worth.

Chapter context

Verse 9.26 sits between a statement about destinations of worship and a wider dedication of action

Bhagavad Gita 9.25 says that worshippers of different objects of worship go to the corresponding destinations, while Krishna’s worshippers come to him. Verse 9.26 then names the simple leaf, flower, fruit, or water offered with devotion. Verse 9.27 immediately widens the field: whatever one does, eats, offers in sacrifice, gives, or undertakes as austerity is to be offered to Krishna.

That sequence matters. If 9.26 is isolated as a magical formula, its devotional logic becomes narrower than the chapter itself. The next verse moves beyond four objects toward ordinary action, eating, giving, sacrifice, and discipline. A responsible reference therefore treats 9.26 as a vivid statement about devotional offering inside a wider teaching, not as a claim that divine relationship is purchased through particular materials.

The public-domain Besant edition independently preserves the same sequence in the ninth discourse. SlokaSandra uses that historical edition as a placement witness, not as a source for the original rendering on this page. Modern translations can carry their own copyright and interpretive choices, so the page keeps its explanatory English original and clearly labelled.

Common Hindu practice often includes leaves, flowers, fruits, and water, and particular traditions may prescribe particular substances, leaves, flowers, foods, vessels, times, or ritual procedures. Those practices can be meaningful within their own lineages. Bhagavad Gita 9.26, however, should not be used by this site to declare one universal ritual code for all Hindu traditions. A provenance-first reference can describe the verse while leaving lineage-specific practice to appropriate traditional authorities.

Traditional readings

Shankara and Ramanuja both emphasize devotion, within distinct frameworks

Shankara / Advaita: the Sanskrit commentary preserved with the chapter 9 Wikisource witness glosses the leaf, flower, fruit, and water as the things presented to Krishna with devotion. He explains bhakty-upahṛtam as brought with devotion and prayatātmanaḥ in terms of a purified understanding. His reading underscores that what is received is the devotion-bearing offering of the purified-minded devotee. SlokaSandra presents this as an attributed Advaita commentary layer, not as anonymous Hindu consensus.

Ramanuja / Viśiṣṭādvaita: Ramanuja’s commentary on the same verse emphasizes the ready accessibility of leaf, flower, fruit, or water and describes a devotee for whom giving the offering is bound up with intense love of Krishna. His explanation gives the devotee’s loving orientation a strongly personal and relational emphasis. This is kept separate from Shankara’s wording and metaphysical frame rather than blended into a single synthetic “traditional meaning.”

Madhva / Dvaita: the Sanskrit Wikisource witness also preserves Madhva’s commentary separately. It warns against reading the verse as permission to offer any improper thing merely because the listed materials are simple, and stresses devotion. Because this is a separate Dvaita witness, SlokaSandra does not use it to erase the differences among the traditions.

Learn carefully

Practice the verse in four sense units

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयंpatraṃ puṣpaṃ phalaṃ toyaṃ
यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छतिyo me bhaktyā prayacchati
तदहं भक्त्युपहृतम्tad ahaṃ bhakty-upahṛtam
अश्नामि प्रयतात्मनःaśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

Audio status: Awaiting verified recitation.

No recitation is published on this page. SlokaSandra does not label generated or unreviewed pronunciation as traditional or authoritative. If reviewed audio is added later, the normal experience will remain in-site listening with controls such as play, slow, and repeat — not an audio download feature.

Practice boundary

Simple offerings do not create a universal ritual shopping list

The verse’s four objects are frequently cited in devotional practice because they make the teaching memorable and accessible. That does not mean every community treats every leaf, flower, fruit, or type of water as ritually interchangeable. Temple procedures, household traditions, sectarian lineages, regional customs, and deity-specific practices may differ. SlokaSandra does not issue ritual prescriptions, sell offering kits, or claim that purchasing more expensive items makes devotion more effective.

Readers should also avoid turning the verse into food, herbal, or medical advice. A plant leaf or fruit mentioned in a devotional setting is not thereby proven safe to eat, drink, apply to skin, give to children or pets, or use as treatment. Botanical and medical safety require their own qualified evidence.

Claims boundary

What this page does not promise

Bhagavad Gita 9.26 is not presented here as a ritual recipe guaranteeing wealth, health, business success, employment, examination results, fertility, legal victory, protection from accidents, removal of every difficulty, or automatic divine approval regardless of context. It does not establish that a particular price, quantity, brand, flower, fruit, or purchased ritual item forces a spiritual or material result.

The devotional force of the verse can remain powerful without converting it into a factual warranty. SlokaSandra keeps canonical text, named commentary, common devotional context, and modern claims separate so that readers can encounter the verse without hidden commercial or outcome promises.

Read nearby and related Gita passages in their own contexts

Bhagavad Gita 9.22 discusses sustained devotion and yoga-kṣema; 9.26 turns to a simple offering made with devotion; 18.65 appears in the closing teaching on remembrance, devotion, worship, and reverence. These passages are related by devotional themes, but they should not be collapsed into one formula.

Read Bhagavad Gita 9.22 →
Read Bhagavad Gita 18.65 →
Read Bhagavad Gita 18.66 →

Sources & verification

Textual and commentary witnesses

Verified: 25 August 2026. Canonical Sanskrit and named commentary context were checked against the Sanskrit Wikisource Bhagavad Gita chapter 9 witness. Verse placement and Devanagari were independently checked against the public-domain 1922 Annie Besant edition on English Wikisource. IIT Kanpur’s Gita Supersite is retained as an additional structured citation for chapter/verse and named-commentary verification.

Source links document provenance; they do not transfer copyright in modern translations or commentary adaptations. SlokaSandra’s plain-language rendering and explanatory prose on this page are original editorial text.