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Re: doubt reg GITA

From the Bhakti List Archives

mani2 • September 6, 2002 


--- In bhakti-list@y..., Aravind Gopalan  wrote:
> 
> [I] would like to know what does Pancha mahAyagyam mean?
> 

Dear Sri Aravind,

The panca mahayajnas or five great sacrifices are part of
the ordained daily religious duty of all married householders.
They are to be done with cooperation by both the husband and
the wife -- what the husband does not do the wife must do and
vice versa, given certain constraints.  These sacrifices are
"great" not because of expense or detail but because of their
importance. They are

  (1) deva-yajna / offering to the gods: this is to satisfy
      one's debt to the devatas who represent the powers which 
      sustain life (factor in the will and indwelling presence
      of the Paramatma of course). This is done through 
      offering of rice, etc., to agni, for example.
  (2) brahma-yajna / studying the Vedas (brahma) for no purpose
      but for their propagation. This takes the form of reciting
      the Purusha Sukta and some anuvAka of one's Veda, or if
      not possible, extra Gayatri Japa. The purpose is to keep
      one's knowledge of the Veda current and fresh.
  (3) pitR-yajna / offering to one's ancestors and pitR-devatas.
      This is satisfied through the daily pitR-tarpaNa.
  (4) manushya-yajna / offering of food and help to fellow human
      beings. Typically this is in the form of providing food
      for whatever guests (atithi) arrive *unexpectedly*. Contrary
      to public belief, invited guests are not "atithi"! They
      are known as a "abhyAgata". One will naturally take care
      of people whom one has invited. This also takes the form
      of charity to others.
  (5) bhUta-yajna / offering of food and help to non-human creatures.
      This is of the form of feeding birds, cows, etc., to the
      extent possible.

The last two yajnas constitute partial atonement for all the
himsa that naturally happens while leading the life of a householder.

> In GitA,  Emperuman says that by performing yagyams people make the 
> devas happy and in turn they get benefitted through Emperuman 
> residing inside those devAs. He adds that the performer of the 
> yagyam  can get swargam and also can get 'mOksha sAdhanam' as the 
> phalam of their yagyam. What are these 'mOksha sAdhanams'?

The process is as follows. Through selfless performance of one's
duties according to one's outlook and position in life, beginning
with the five great sacrifices which purify one's food and which
consequently are the basis for bodily sustenance, and continuing to 
other religious acts, the mind is purified and prior conditioning 
and karmas are reduced.  As a consequence the mind is more amenable 
to contemplation on the proper nature of the individual self and its 
relation to the world and the Supreme.  Through such contemplation 
the blissful nature of the individual self is perceived and the
contemplation proceeds lovingly to Bhagavan who is the innermost, 
Supreme Self. As this process continues one becomes truly steadfast
in bhakti-yoga which is the actual moksha-sAdhana.

Bhagavad Ramanuja describes the initial stage of this process:
 
   Through money which is properly and lawfully earned,
   one should perform the great sacrifices. Only
   having performed these great sacrifices should
   the body be sustained, in accordance with the rule of
   the wise.  As the Veda declares, "When what is consumed
   is pure, the mind becomes pure. When the mind is pure,
   contemplation becomes firm (Chandogya Upanishad)."

   nyAya-arjita-dhanena mahA-yajna-AdikaM kRtvA tac-chishTa-
   ASanena+eva SarIra-dhAraNaM kAryam, "AhAra-Suddhau sattva-  
   SuddhiH sattva-Suddhau dhruvA smRtiH" ity-Adi-SruteH  

                                           (Gita Bhashya 3.8)

The next line of the Upanishad quoted continues this thought
by saying that when such contemplation is attained, one
is released from all bonds.

Hope this explains to some degree.

|| namaH paramarshibhyaH ||

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
Mani


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