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GĪTĀ, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CH. XVII 1167
$$ ॐ तत्सदिति निर्देशो ब्रह्मणस्त्रिविधः स्मृतः।
ब्राह्मणास्तेन वेदाश्च यज्ञाश्च विहिताः पुरा॥२३॥ means 'something beyond the ordinary Action', that is to say, the sāttvika Action performed desirelessly, and having given up the Hope of Fruit; and 'Sat' means pure Actions, performed according to Scriptural directions, notwithstanding that they may have been performed with a Hope for Fruit. Such is the meaning of this canon; and if this meaning is accepted, not only sātt vika Actions, performed with a desireless frame of mind, but also good Actions performed according to Scriptural directions are included in the ordinary and commonly accepted definition of the Parabrahman. Therefore, it is wrong to say that these Actions are eschewable. Besides the "tat' and 'sat' Actions, there remain the 'asat' Actions, that is, evil Actions. But, as such Actions are harmful both in this life and the next, they are not included in the definition, as has been stated in the last stanza. The Blessed Lord says-]
(23) The Parabrahman is defined (in the Scriptures ) in three ways, as “Om-Tat-Sat". By this (very) definition were the Brahmins, the Vedas, and the Sacrifices created formerly.
[It has been stated before that in the beginning of the world, the first Brahmin in the form of Brahmadeva, the gods, and Yajnas were first created (GI. 3. 10). But, the form of that Parabrahman, from which all this has been created, is contained in the three words 'Om', 'Tat' and 'Sat'. Therefore, this stanza means that the canon
Om-Tat-Sat' is the root of the entire universe. The Blessed Lord now gives the respective connotations of the three words' 'Om', Tat', and 'Sat' in this canon, from the Karma-Yogic point of view)
* It is difficult to understand how anything can be created by a definition (nir deśa). Śridhara explains the word "this' as meaning Parabrahman'. -Trans.
