Yajna and Karma

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

[Krishnashtami Day 6] The Lord in human form receives our sacrifice and enjoys it. His enjoyment is reflected in His face and we recognize it, which gives us immense satisfaction (Bhoktaram Sarvatapasam). This possibility is absent in all the other forms of God and therefore, God does not exist in the other forms but those forms can be kept as representatives or models, if you are unable to accept the human form. But the recognition of the real human incarnation is very important since He will guide you in the correct path as your friend (Suhrudam Sarvabhutanam). If he is a false guide, he will harm you by misguiding (Atmaiva ripuh). In this verse, the Lord said that Atman should be uplifted by Atman. The second word Atman means the Lord in human form. But the first word Atman means the soul in human form. When the Yoga is completed by the permanent self-attainment, the Lord in human form will Himself contact you for further guidance (Paramatma Samahitah).

One need not be discouraged by the most difficult goal of Nivrutti. If you are in the constant trial, the Lord will co-operate with you by granting any number of human births (Abhyasena tu, Prayatnat, Abhyasayoga, Aneka janma— Gita). Only one can get the gold medal (Kaschitmam— Gita) in the class but every student has equal probability and any student who is in constant trial will succeed one day or other. If you leave your effort, discouraged by seeing the goal, then there is no other chance of human birth (Manushyatvam… Durlabham- Shankara).

The entire success in your spiritual effort lies only in one point that is the recognition of human incarnation because the unimaginable Lord, cannot be seen by any human being (Naaham Prakasah Sarvasya). The Parabrahman is covered by the pure awareness called as Yoga Maya or Mula Maya. It means that you should cross rejecting the pure awareness also to know the Lord (Parabrahman), who is beyond the pure awareness also. You may neglect the human incarnation (Avajananti mam- Gita) and worship the deities present in the energetic forms but the same Parabrahman present in all the deities is present in this human form also. It is only the Parabrahman who can respond to you (Mayaiva Vihitan- Gita). The Parabrahman enters, pervades and identifies with the causal body (Adhyatama), with the subtle body (Adhidaivata) and with the external gross body (Adhibhuta). Therefore, the Parabrahman can easily respond to you in the human form (Aksharam Brahma—Gita). The Lord in human form is also called as Adhiyajna, which means that He is presiding over the sacrifice by receiving the service in form of sacrifice of work and sacrifice of fruit of work.

In the Yajna, the food and money as Dakshina are offered to the Sadguru who is the incarnation of Lord. The Veda says that in such a divine preacher, all the deities exist as said in the Veda (Devatah Taha Sarvah). Some people want to serve a particular deity. Serving the Sadguru becomes the service of that deity. The devotees can get boons from the Sadguru because the Parabrahman present in all the deities is also present in Sadguru. Therefore, whatever the deities can grant, the same can be granted by Sadguru also. Actually, it is only the Parabrahman, which can grant the boons. The Lord says that let the devotees who are interested in getting the boons serve the Sadguru in a practical way by offering work and fruit of work. Then one can expect the boon from the Parabrahman through the Sadguru and the deity is an intermediate form existing in the Sadguru Himself (Ishtakamadhuk).

This is purely business that you offer something and get back the return. The Lord encouraged this path of business “Vaishyamarga” also which is better than “Veshyamarga.” In the latter path, you are aspiring something in return practically by offering theoretical items like praise by words, devotion by mind and discussions about the Lord by brain. The prostitute also expects money in return practically by sacrificing sweet words and sweet feelings of mind. Atleast in the first path, the devotee offers something practically and expects in return also practically as in the case of business. This business-devotion is better than the prostitute-devotion in which devotees offer prayers by words and feelings of love through mind and expect boons practically in return. But even in the business-devotion, developments have come. People ask the God to grant a boon first and then only the practical sacrifice will be done. The present day devotion of almost all the devotees is according to these two ways.

Yajna is a practical sacrifice to the Human Incarnation or atleast to His real devotees. The best way of doing Yajna is to sacrifice work or fruit of work or both without aspiring anything in return. Infact you should feel that you are paying the tax to the Lord for all these cosmic facilities. The Lord says that first this divine tax must be paid to the Lord and then only you should enjoy (Yajnasishtaamruta-Gita). He condemned the atheists who enjoy the cosmic facilities and even deny the existence of the Lord. The Lord says that such atheists are enjoying actually the sin (Bhunjate tetvagham). It is very important to note that all the amenities of oneself and his family members are included under the mission of the Lord only. But there should be some limit for the amenities and luxuries should not be argued as basic needs and facilities.

Therefore, you can divide the people into three categories. The first category of people have earned the money beyond all the needs. They should sacrifice the excess wealth for the sake of the mission of the Lord. In the case of all the other human beings, whatever they waste in the name of entertainments can be sacrificed to the Lord. By this, they are diverting their path to Hell to the divine abode of the Lord. The third category of people are those who earn and store for their basic needs only. Such people need not pay the divine tax but in the case of the third category, the point comes that whether they are capable of doing more work so that they can earn more. If they are capable but not doing the excess work, such people are instructed by the Lord to do the work to the full extent. By doing such extra work, the fruit of that work may be paid as the divine tax or may be stored for their basic needs. But under any circumstances, one should not enter into luxuries. All the luxuries, if properly analysed, lead to loss of health and peace only and finally lead to hell.

In this context, the word Yajna should be properly understood. The verb has two meanings. One meaning is Yajanam, which means cooking the food. The other meaning is Pujanam, which means offering the food to Sadguru, but not burning ghee and food in fire. This leads to the pollution of the environment and greenhouse effect results so that the rains are stopped. Then the cycle of the Lord is interfered in which the Yajna is supposed to bring down the rains. The fire in which the food and ghee should be offered is the hunger present in the stomach of Sadguru or the real devotee. Even hungry beggars can be fed but they should be associated with the Jnana-Bhakti Yajna (divine knowledge and devotion) also. Mere social service without the divine mission is useless. Infact such social service will make God angry. The reason is that a human being is suffering here due to its sins. The Lord punished them and the punishment is for a change and not for vengeance. Interference in the punishment is disturbing the divine administration. But if you help them in the name of the Lord and try to convert them into devotees, it will help them in their transformation, which is the actual goal of the punishment. In such case, the Lord is pleased with you.

The Yajna (sacrifice) can bring you the sin also if you sacrifice to an undeserving fellow. If you sympathize an undeserving fellow, you have to convert him into a deserving devotee. Therefore, if the sacrifice of food and money (Dakshina) is associated with the worship of the Lord even if some undeserving people are present, they become deserving atleast during that time. This is the reason why the worship of the Lord is associated with the sacrifice of food in the functions like marriages. But such worship of the Lord is not at all attracting anyone since nobody understands the prayers (hymns), which are chanted there by the priest. Even the priest himself does not know the meaning. Thus, in such functions undeserving people are fed and sin is earned. Therefore, there must be the resurrection of Hinduism. The priest must learn the knowledge of the Veda and should make the worship as Jnana Yajna and the Lord is very much pleased with it (Jnanayajnena, priyohijnaninah). In the case of Islam and Christianity, the prayers are in their mother tongue and so this problem is not present. Simple recitation of hymns is called as Svadhyaya yajna. The sacrifice of only food items is called Dravyayajna.

The Lord told that the path of the sacrifice should be secret as far as possible in the early stage (Rahasyam). As the devotion develops and reaches the climax, the fear is lost. When the Yajna is done, it is the practical sacrifice to the Lord. Such sacrifice and the material become greatest (Brahmaarpanam). In this verse, the word Brahman is used everywhere, which means greatest. The Lord says that one should not stick to the fruit of his work and should sacrifice it to the Lord and should do the work of the Lord as his duty. Such a devotee alone is called a samnyasin or a yogi (Anasritah karmaphalam).

The word Karma means the work in general but this word karma also means the work to be done for the sake of selfishness and his family members. The word Karmayoga means the work to be done for the sake of the Lord. The word Vikarma means the work done in excess even after achieving the wealth required for the necessities of family (Karmanohyapi). Therefore, Karma means the necessary work or duty to be done to acquire the basic needs for your family. Vikarma means not only earning the excess wealth but also wasting the wealth in luxuries. Both these types of Vikarma are sin and should be avoided. When you sacrifice the excess of wealth to the Lord, you must sacrifice it with fear and shyness because the entire creation is the wealth of the Lord (Kasyasvit Dhanam— Veda). Even while sacrificing the work to the mission of the Lord, you should know that the Lord also supplies the energy required to do the work. Therefore, you should not feel that you have served the Lord (Naivakinchit, Ahankara Vimudhatma, Brahmanyadhaya, Navadvare).

The reason for the human being to do any work is the Svabhava or Prakrutti (Svabhavastu, Prakrutimyanti). The svabhava or Prakruti means the mentalities that are concentrated in the subtle body for the past millions of births. When the boons are granted, the results of good deeds to be enjoyed in future births are drawn back with reduced interests and are given to you as boons. The present results of the bad deeds are postponed to the future births along with increased interest. Therefore, you can never escape the result of your bad deed and the boon given to you is always the result of your own good deed (Nadatte Kasyachit). The Lord says that the sacrifice to the Lord should be done in such a way that the feeling of love should be generated (Bhutabhavodbhavakarah). The love or devotion exists under ignorance and emotion. If you realize that all the wealth belongs to the Lord only, you will feel that you have returned back the money of the Lord to Him and the Lord also feels that His own wealth is returned back. Neither there is feeling of real sacrifice in the mind of devotee nor there is real feeling of love in the heart of the Lord. The Lord also feels the love of the devotee, if the Lord thinks that the devotee really sacrificed his hard-earned fruit. But in such love the egoism may come up, since the devotee feels proud of his sacrifice. In order to rectify this, knowledge is enlightened so that the devotee should know that the entire creation is the wealth of Lord and get rid of his pride. Thus, there is an alternate release and withdrawal of knowledge and ignorance so that the devotees do sacrifice with love under ignorance and without any pride under knowledge (Mattah Smruthih— Gita).

The work or karma should never be left (Satatam Kuru Karma—Gita). The work is useful for basic needs of the life and also to store some wealth for the future needs of the family. One need not feel shy up to this point and he should feel happy also because he has fulfilled the Pravrutti or justice, which is the basic part of Nivrutti. Once karma up to this point is fulfilled, the work should be diverted towards the Lord and such work is called as Karma Yoga. Either you have to sacrifice the fruit of your work or work according to your convenience. Any one of these two or both can be called as Karma. Without the Karma Yoga mere sacrifice of words, mind and brain is like sacrificing the freely supplied water. Therefore, the Lord asked Arjuna to fight the war and assist Him in His mission (Mamanusmara Yuddhyacha— Gita). Arjuna got confused when Krishna was preaching sacrifice and work together. Arjuna thought that sacrifice means leaving all the wealth and work and be inactive continuously (Vyamisrenaiva— Gita). Krishna clarified that one has to sacrifice the work done for the family with unlimited ambition even after achieving all the required needs and the facilities of the family. After that point the work for the family should be stopped and this is Samnyasa. After this he should divert all the work and its fruits towards the Lord. Therefore, both these are to be done (Samnyasah Karma Yogascha— Gita). The Lord opposes if one stops work and becomes inactive after earning all basic facilities of the family.

When the Lord says that one should be interested in the self (Atmaratireva— Gita), here the word self does not mean selfishness. Here the word self means the causal body, which is pure awareness, which can be attained by self-analysis for the sake of attaining yoga. He should not fall from the state of pure awareness and must stay there only with interest in the self. After attaining Yoga, subsequently he should catch the Sadguru and surrender to Him completely. In this stage, the same above word self indicates the human incarnation of the Lord. This is the stage of Nivrutti where the devotee has all his interest only in the Lord. In this stage of Nivrutti, the devotee is not related with any other human being except the Lord. All his family bonds vanish and no family member can control him (Kaschidarthavyapasrayah—Gita). Even the rule of Dharma cannot bind such devotee because the Lord is far greater than Dharma (Sarva Dharman- Gita). When you are serving the Lord, you must do the service as a scholar without egoism feeling that everything belongs to Lord and every work is done by the Lord (Saktah Karmani—Gita). A devotee with ignorance and love also does the same service feeling that he is donating his hard earned fruit and that he is sacrificing his own energy for the Lord. Even though the ignorance is present in the latter case, the love in the sacrifice makes it pure but it should not result in egoism.

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