The Five Yajnas
In this discourse delivered on Dasara a quarter century back, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba emphasizes that honoring and nurturing one’s parents and all other beings is the most profound and enduring yet simple path to self realization. This year the festival of Dasara falls on September 24th.
Birth occurs owing to karma
Karma is the cause of pleasure and pain
It is the cause of good and evil
The world is made of karma stuff.
The world is permeated by Brahman (Self). It is equally permeated by karma (deeds in one’s previous life). Creation itself is the outcome of action. Man as a part of creation is also a product of the process.
Man represents the jiva shakti (vital force) encased in the body. The body is the result of [previous] karma. All activities associated with the body, speech, and mind are also karma. Five elements are involved in performing karma. First is the body, the second is the doer, the third comprises the sensory organs, the fourth covers the varied actions, and the fifth is the common factor in all beings, the Divine Principle.
The Divine underlies all things. Forgetting this fact, and attributing all activities to the sense organs, man is engaged in actions for achieving desired results. Man is reborn to reap the fruits of his actions. He is thus caught up in the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Swadharma and Paradharma
Man should aim at performing actions without concern for the fruits thereof. There are two types of actions—swadharma and paradharma—as described in the Bhagavad Gita.... “Swa” refers to atma (the self) and swadharma means duties relating to the atma. It is not liable to change in character or form. It is based on the eternal verities. It is unchanging. Swadharma enjoins man to perform the duties relating to the atma as the primary obligation.
Paradharma refers to actions related to the physical entity. Such actions are based on one’s likes and dislikes, and on ideas of thine and mine. They are fraught with danger, and hence the Bhagavad Gita has cautioned against them. We are continually worried about what may happen in the future. All that we do at the present moment have their consequences in due course. Hence, we must engage ourselves in good actions to ensure good results later.
In all these actions, there are three categories: satwic karma, rajasic karma, and tamasic karma [sublime, aggressive, and slothful actions respectively]. Satwic actions are those that are done as an offering to the Divine, without any selfish or egoistic motives, and with no concern for the fruits thereof. Satwic deeds serve the Divine, and win God’s Grace. All actions done out of self-interest and conceit as well as for rewards there from are rajasic. Most actions done by common people in ordinary daily life belong to this category. Almost everyone in the world indulges in rajasic actions. One must strive to convert them into satwic actions.
The third type of actions is tamasic in nature. They are deeds done out of selfish motives, causing harm to others, and inflicting pain on them. They lack compassion and are impelled by narrow mindedness, stemming wholly from self-interest. They are pregnant with evil.
5 yajnas prescribed by shastras
In the ordinary course of life, man does many actions that wittingly or unwittingly cause harm to other beings. To atone for such actions, five yajnas—propitiatory rites—have been prescribed by the shastras (Hindu scriptures). These are: Deva Yajna, Pitru Yajna, Bhoota Yajna, Manushya Yajna, and Rishi Yajna or Brahma Yajna. The inner significance of each of these yajnas should be clearly understood by everyone.
Deva Yajna: In numerous daily activities like walking, breathing, and others, people involuntarily cause the death of many creatures like ants, insects, and microorganisms. To atone for these sins committed unknowingly, Deva Yajnas to propitiate various deities have been prescribed. Moreover, in our body, in every organ and limb, the presiding deities are present in the form of rasa (a subtle fluid). Hence, these deities are called angirasas (the presiding deities of the angas or limbs). Because these deities in the subtle form protect the organs concerned, gratitude has to be expressed to them in the form of Deva Yajnas.
During the states such as sleep, these deities take care of the body. As the body has been given to man for the performance of his duties, man should be grateful to the deities who protect it. “The body is essential for the fulfillment of dharma (right actions).” To meditate on the Anga Devas, to worship them, and express gratitude to them is man’s first duty.
Sacrifice to the manes
Pitru Yajnas: When a branch is broken, a flower is plucked, or a tree is cut down, many small creatures may be losing their lives. Recognizing one’s responsibility for this loss of lives, one should perform Pitru Yajna (sacrifice to the manes) by way of atonement. In addition, one should remember that he owes his body and all that it contains, as well as the food that has nourished him in childhood, to his parents. As long as they are alive, it is one’s duty to serve them and keep them happy. The obsequies and ceremonies that are performed after their death are laid down to honor their memory. By performing Pitru Yajnas, the ancestors are propitiated.
Bhoota Yajnas: When we take a bath, or wash our clothes, or sweep the house, many living creatures may be losing their lives. To atone for the death of such creatures, Bhoota Yajnas (offerings to the beings) have to be made. This practice has come down from the times of ancient sages. The rishis (sages) used to maintain deer, cows, and other animals in their ashrams, and look after them with loving care as expression of their love for all living beings. Following their example, other people used to scatter sugar or flour near anthills for feeding ants. To offer the remains of one’s food after a meal to cows or dogs or other creatures is also a form of Bhoota Yajna. Even today, many people keep dogs, parrots or other pets at home. By showing love toward living things in this way, some atonement is made for the unconscious harm done to various creatures in daily life.
Manava or Manushya Yajna: These yajnas or rituals are done to atone for many offences committed against various beings in the course of daily life, in actions done during work or play.
Rishi or Brahma Yajna: Considering human birth as a precious gift, the ancient sages provided through the (Hindu) scriptures, the Upanishads and the Dharma Shastras, a body of guiding principles so that man may strive to attain the true goal of life—namely self-realization. They laid down the four Purusharthas [goals of life]—dharma, artha, kama, and moksha [right action, prosperity, desire, and liberation]—as guidelines for humanity.
These regulations, which are not applicable to animals or birds, have been prescribed for man alone because he alone is endowed with powers of enquiry and discrimination to choose between right and wrong. All laws and shastras are intended only for man. Sins, shastras, and shaapam (curse) are designed only for man. The rishis laid down the royal road of righteous life for all humanity. It is our duty to show our gratitude to them by meditating on them and offering worship to them through Rishi Yajnas.
Compassion is the highest dharma
The practice of absolute non-violence, that is causing no harm to any living thing, is impossible in daily life, because unconsciously many micro-organisms are being destroyed even in the processes of breathing, walking, talking, or eating. What should be avoided is consciously causing harm. The price has to be paid for conscious offences by suffering and retribution. There is no escape from the rule: As you sow, so shall you reap.
The results of your past deeds, good or bad, will bind you like a chain. It is to atone for all such actions that worship of the three principal deities during dawn, noon, and evening has been prescribed. At dawn the Sun represents the form of Brahma (Creator). At noon he [the Sun] has the form of Easwara (the Lord). In the evening, he represents Vishnu (the Sustainer). The performance of the sandhya worship (of the Sun) in the morning, noon, and evening thus becomes worship of the Trimurtis (three forms of God, namely Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu). Very few are aware of the significance of these rituals.
These five types of yajnas have to be performed every day to atone for the sins committed in the course of daily activities. There is no need to have elaborate arrangement, for performing these yajnas. If you carry out the behests of your parents, meditate on the deities, offer food to the animals in the house or outside or at least give alms to a beggar, you can propitiate the divine and redeem your life. You would do well to remember that there is no greater gift than the gift of food to the hungry, there are no greater gods than one’s parents, there is no higher dharma than compassion, no better profitable acquisition than the company of the good, no worse enemy than anger, no worse disease than debt, no worse death than infamy, and no higher merit than remembering the Lord.
It is futile to expect that merely by reciting a few mantras (prayers) one can atone for one’s sins. Only through right action can expiation take place. Without a clean heart, all worship is useless. Without spiritual purity, religious observances are valueless. How can you have pure food if the pots are unclean?
People indulge in high-sounding talk about spiritual matters. But without application in practice, such talk has no meaning.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 19
