Teachings of Krishna Archives

Yajna (Sacrifice): The Many Meanings and Practical Applications in the Bhagavad Gita

Yajna - fire sacrifice

Q: May I ask for your explanation of the true sense of yajna [sacrifice] and Adiyajna [Primal Sacrifice] as used by Lord Krishna, and is it found in the sacred teachings of The Christ?

Although we naturally equate yajna with the fire sacrifice, agnihotra, yajna basically means any kind of offering.

Those who publish and distribute books of spiritual and scriptural knowledge are said to be engaging in Jnana Yajna. It is very common to call akhanda kirtan (especially of the Mahamantra) Nama Yajna.

As in virtually all spiritual matters, the supreme authority is the Bhagavad Gita. There we find the subject explained thoroughly and perfectly. No commentary is needed because Sri Veda Vyasa has expressed everything so clearly.

1. “The world is bound by the actions not done for sake of sacrifice. Hence for sacrifice you should act without attachment. In the beginning along with mankind Prajapati created sacrifice and said: ‘By this shall you increase: this shall be the granter of desires. May you foster the gods by this, and may the gods then foster you.

Then, each the others fostering, you shall attain the highest welfare. The gods, fostered by sacrifice, will give you desired enjoyments. But he who enjoys the gods’ gifts without offering to them is a thief.’ The good who eat the sacrificial remains are freed from all evils. The wicked eat their own evil who cook food only for themselves.

From food all beings are produced, and from rain all food is produced. From sacrifice there comes down rain. From action is born sacrifice. Understand that action arises from Brahma, Brahma arises from the Imperishable. Hence the all-pervading Brahma is eternally established in sacrifice” (Bhagavad Gita 3:9-15).

2. “The karma of one who is free from attachment, whose thought is established in knowledge, undertaking action for sacrifice, is wholly dissolved.

Brahman is the offering, Brahman is the oblation poured out by Brahman into the fire of Brahman. Brahman is to be attained by him who always sees Brahman in action.

Paramatma, Prakriti and Jivatma: Three Concepts You Need to Understand to Pursue God-Knowledge

Paramatma, Prakriti, and Jivatma

Q: I am wondering about the concept of Paramatma, Prakriti and jivatma: Why have a construct of Paramatma, Prakriti and atma/jivatma? Why not simply have Paramatma, without the need for any existence, any Universe, creatures or beings, given that Paramatma is eternal, unmanifest, not of Prakriti, and does not require Prakriti or jivatma to “be,” whilst the latter two require Paramatmna to “be”… etc?

I do understand that with this hypothesis, there would be no beings, universe etc. which is a false statement in itself, but from a Vedanta standpoint, what is the “tarka” or logical reasoning for the construct of Paramatma, Prakriti, and jivatma?

You see yourself into what absurdity it all falls when a person subscribes to Advaita Vedanta rather than Sankhya, the original philosophy (darshana) of Sanatana Dharma, especially the Bhagavad Gita, and of the Yoga Darshana itself. When we realize that these three concepts are necessary for an intelligent pursuit of Brahmajnana and moksha, it is really an absurdity to deny their value.

Any concept is fundamentally merely an image in the mind, but the entire universe is being held as a concept in the consciousness of Brahman. It is a dream, but a dream that is real like any other dream of the mind. To say that something is not real because it is not material reveals the mind of a materialist, of Charvaka, not Dharma.

Divine Incarnation: Which is Your View of Avatars?

Q: Would you explain the incarnations of the Hindu faith and how we should reconcile Krishna and Jesus? There are two views about divine incarnations in India. The most common is the idea that God incarnates and lives in a physical body. Some say, however, … Continue reading

Real Spiritual Teachers vs. Super-Gurus

An excerpt from The Bhagavad Gita for Awakening

“The Holy Lord said: When he leaves behind all desires emerging from the mind, and is contented in the Self by the Self, then he is said to be one whose wisdom is steady” (Bhagavad Gita 2:55).

Nothing could be easier to understand: an enlightened person wants nothing, finding total fulfillment in the Self–both individual and Universal.

Therefore when we see people with even “spiritual goals” such as “serving God in others” or exhibiting a veritable passion about a “world mission” or “saving” or “enlightening” others, we can know they are not illumined, and therefore incapable of doing any of those things in a real manner, however fine the exterior machinery might appear.

Qualities of a true spiritual teacher

A true spiritual teacher has no expectation of others whatsoever, much less foisting demands on them. Knowing that all growth comes from within, never from an outer factor–including him–the worthy teacher knows that it is his duty to teach, and that is the absolute end of the matter. From then on it is up to the student to either follow the teaching or not.

If he asks for help or advice from the teacher, it is the teacher’s duty to give the requested assistance and then leave the matter alone. (Swami Sri Yukteswar was a perfect example of this, as was Paramhansa Yogananda. They loved and cared deeply, but they also respected the freedom of those they taught.)

In spiritual life as well as material life there is a division of labor that should be adhered to. Under the guise of “love” or “devotion” there should be no violation of spiritual law. And no authentic teacher will ever break any law.

In contrast

It is virtually impossible to find any popular “guru” that does not live like “the jewel in the lotus”–both materially and socially. Although there is a pretense that their disciples are insistent upon it, it is really the guru that demands continual adulation and material accouterments that would have been considered extreme even for a Di Medici monarch.

How Should the Yogi Think of God? Part 2: The Way of Form

A Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Part 2 of How Should the Yogi Think of God? [read Part 1 here]

The way of Form (Saguna Brahman)

Now Krishna expounds the way of those who devote themselves to the attainment of Saguna Brahman.

“But those who, renouncing all actions in Me, and regarding Me as the Supreme, worship Me, meditating on Me with undistracted yoga, of those whose consciousness have entered into Me, I am soon the deliverer from the ocean of death and rebirth” (Bhagavad Gita 12:6, 7).

This, too, merits close scrutiny.

Renouncing all actions in Me.

There are a lot of shameless idlers wandering around India pretending to be monks and excusing their indolence and worthlessness as renunciation of action. But Krishna indicates that renunciation must only take place in the state of God-consciousness–that mere abstention from action to supposedly free or purify the mind is meaningless and worthless, a delusion based on ignorance and laziness.

It is utterly mistaken to think that withdrawal from action will free our minds to seek God. That is getting the order completely turned around. First we must establish ourselves in at least a working degree of spiritual awareness before we can think of stopping action.

Sri Ramakrishna said: “There is a kind of renunciation called ‘monkey renunciation.’ A man tormented by the troubles of the world goes to Benares wearing an ocher robe. No news of him for days. Then comes a letter, ‘You should not worry. I have got a job.’”

How Should the Yogi Think of God: Nirguna or Saguna? Part 1

Through the ages a philosophical tug-of-war has gone on between those who prefer to consider God as possessing limitless, divine qualities, and those who prefer to think of God as being unthinkable–as being utterly beyond anything that can be conceptualized or spoken.

These two aspects are called Saguna (with qualities) and Nirguna (without qualities). The yogi knows that both are true, but the philosophers insist on holding to one and rejecting the other, or declaring one to be higher or more accurate than the other. Consequently Vyasa has this twelfth chapter open with these words from Arjuna:

“The constantly steadfast devotees who worship You with devotion, and those who worship the eternal unmanifest: which of these has the better knowledge of yoga?” (Bhagavad Gita 12:1)

Arjuna addresses Krishna as the Saguna Brahman, since he is communicating with Arjuna as a conditioned being.

Krishna answers:

“Those who are eternally steadfast, who worship Me, fixing their minds on Me, endowed with supreme faith: I consider them to be the most devoted to Me” (Bhagavad Gita 12:2).

This is extremely clear, at least as far as the traits of those who have a better grasp of yoga is concerned. But why is their grasp better?

Because they are able to focus their intention on a concept of the Divine that is not only within the scope of their intellect, it is a concept that inspires their seeking, for it is based on love which, as Swami Sri Yukteswar points out in The Holy Science, is in its essential nature a magnetic force that unites the seeker with the object of the seeking. The path of devotion (bhakti) is as pragmatic as the path of knowledge (jnana).

The path of the formless

“But those who honor the imperishable the indefinable, the unmanifest, the all-pervading and unthinkable [inconceivable], the unchanging, the immovable, the eternal…” (Bhagavad Gita 12:3).

None of these qualities are within the range of our experience–no, not even from eternity. So how can we begin to conceive of them? For example, in the West it is thought that “eternal” means that which is without end, but in reality it means that which has neither beginning nor end–that which is absolutely outside the realm of time, space, or relativity. Can we think the unthinkable? Can we conceive the inconceivable? Of course not–its very nature makes it impossible for us. So how, then, can Nirguna Brahman be approached, much less known? Krishna tells us.