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Written by Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
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The sacrifices, you will have seen, are of the utmost importance to our
Vedic religion. The Lord himself has spoken about them in the Gita. When
Brahma created the human species he also brought the yajnas or
sacrifices into existence, bidding mortals thus: "Keep performing
sacrifices. You will obtain all good fortune. May these sacrifices of
yours
be the cow (Kamadhenu) that grants you all you desire"
Saha-yajnah prajah srstva puro'vaca Prajapatih
Anena prasavisyadhvam esa vo'stvista-kamadhuk
If we assume that Brahma "created humans and with them sacrifices", it
is likely to be construed that he first created human beings and then
sacrifices. But actually it is stated in the Gita that Prajapati created
yajna
along with humankind (saha-yajnah prajah srstva). Yajna is mentioned
first and then praja (mankind).
Since the mantras of the Vedas are the source of creation, the
vibrations
produced by chanting them will bring the divine powers invested with the
authority of performing certain functions. To recite such mantras at a
sacrifice is like writing the address on an envelope. It is by
performing
homa in this way that the oblation is conveyed to the deity invoked by
Agni.
The dog is stronger than the cat, the horse stronger than the dog, the
elephant stronger than the horse, and the lion stronger than the
elephant. To extend this sequence, who are stronger than men? The
devas, or celestials. While in this world they remain dissolved in the
five
elements, in the celestial world they exist in a visible form. Those who
have obtained siddhi or perfection by chanting the mantras can also see
them in their gross form in their celestial abode besides receiving
their
blessings in their subtle form. The gods emanated from the Paramatman
as a result of the vibrations produced by the mantras. We may therefore
describe the mantras as the "sonic" form of the deities.
The deity appears during a sacrifice when he is invoked with mantras.
Those who are wise and mature will perceive them with their eyes. Even
if they do not, the power of the deities will be subtly revealed to
them.
However, offerings cannot be made directly to them. When you write a
letter you have to stick a stamp on it or put the seal of the registrar.
According to the "regulations" of the Vedas, any oblation intended for
the
celestials must be offered in the sacred fire in a form acceptable to
them.
What remains after the sacrificial fire has consumed the offering
("yajnasista") is taken as prasada by the performers of the sacrifice.
The
question is asked: how does the same reach the deities invoked? We
should not entertain such doubts. The deities are not like us created of
the five elements. So they do not require food in the gross form. Even
in
our case the food we eat is burned (digested) by the gastric fire. Its
essence alone is conveyed to all parts of the body in the form of blood.
The subtle essence of the offerings is conveyed by the sacrificial fire
to
the deities invoked.
You know how a toast is proposed to the guest of honour at a dinner or
banquet. The host and invitees drink to his health. This means that,
when
a group of people drink or eat ceremonially, the benefit goes to someone
else. Do you ask how this is possible? Such things can be explained only
on the basis of a certain mental attitude. Good intentions and good
thoughts have their own creative power.
When the thought waves of the Paramatman have come to us in the form
of mantras, they must truly be pregnant with the utmost power for good.
The offerings made to the deities with the chanting of mantras will
increase their strength. The celestials are of course strong but they
are
neither almighty nor full. They too have their wants and desires and
these
are met by the sacrifices performed by us. If they help us by making our
mundane existence happier we have to help them by performing
sacrifices. If we conduct yajnas so that they may flourish, they will in
return bless us with well-being. Sri Krsna says in the Gita:
Devan bhavayata'nena te deva bhavayantu vah
Parasparam bhavayantah sreyah param avapsyatha
Our religious texts are replete with accounts of how people have merited
the grace of Isvara and pleased the celestials by performing sacrifices.
If the celestials bring us rains, bless us with food, health, etc, why
should
we perform sacrifices so as to provide them with food, we are asked. "
Why should we feed the deities when we ourselves are dependent on
them for our food and clothing? Why cannot they manage to obtain food
on their own? How would you explain the Lord's statement (in the verse
quoted above), 'Parasparam bhavayantah'? To say that we must regard
the celestials as great beings and make obeisance to them seems
reasonable enough. So let us worship them. But, instead of this, why are
we seemingly elevated and placed on an equal footing with them? What
is the meaning of our being told: 'You sustain them and let them sustain
you -you feed them by performing sacrifices and let them bless you with
rains'? "
When I consider such questions, it seems to me that the world of the
celestials is like England and that they themselves are like Englishmen.
Is
there much agricultural land in England? No. Yet Englishmen lorded it
over the world. They boasted: "The sun never sets on our empire.” What
was the secret of their world dominance?
England is poor in food resources. It has plenty of coal and chalk -
coal
that is black and chalk that is white. These are the main resources of
Englishmen but they cannot eat them. If machines and factories are to be
installed in countries where food crops are grown in plenty, they will
need a lot of coal and chalk. That coal is essential to industry is well
known. (Petrol and electricity came later. Now there is atomic power
also. ) For some industries like cement, chalk (limestone) is essential.
Englishmen thought up a shrewd plan. They induced other countries to
start factories using machinery and fomented new, unnecessary desires
among people there. And they sold lumps of coal and chalk to these
countries and got in return foodgrains, cotton, etc, in abundance. In
this
way they brought country after country under their heel.
There are no agricultural lands in the celestial world. The vedas have
no
means to feed themselves. "Durbhiksam devalokesu manunam udakam
grhe", so it is said in the first prasna (first part) of the Taittiriya
Aranyaka.
Rain is produced when the clouds precipitate. It is only on earth that
rain
can be made use of - it fills the rivers, lakes and wells. The
celestials have
to come to our households for water. On earth alone there is plenty
because of cultivation carried on by irrigating the fields. There is
famine
in the celestial world since it has no agricultural land: this is the
meaning
of the words quoted from the Aranyaka.
However, we need the grace of the gods if we are to be blessed with
rains. To deserve such grace we must perform sacrifices. Otherwise there
will be no rains on earth. The result will be famine or the rain will
fall into
the sea and not on land, or it will be either ativrsti (too much rain)
or
anavrsti (no rain). We have to depend on the denizens of the celestial
world to send us the right quantity of rain to create abundance on this
planet.
Just as England has plenty of coal but does not have sufficient
agricultural
land, the celestials have an abundance of grace but no crops to grow -
they cannot also sustain themselves with their power of grace. Because
they send us rain we are able to raise crops and sustain ourselves. For
our
part we can enhance their power of grace by chanting the Vedas. The
oblations offered in the sacrificial fire with such chanting become
their
nourishment.
Our country grows cotton. When our spinning mills did not prosper, the
English took our cotton to Lancashire, made "nice" cloth and sold it to
us,
making in the process four times profit. The celestials produce rain for
us
from the water vapour formed from our own seas. But, unlike the English,
they do not make any profit out of it (in the transaction). In fact the
blessings they give us are far more than the sustenance we give them. As
I said earlier, the celestials are much stronger than we are. The Lord
has
assigned us the duty of performing various rites and the celestials have
to
find satisfaction in them. By doing so, it seems, he has raised us to
the
level of the celestials. "Parasparam bhavayantah" he says in the Gita.
The
gods and mortals support each other. |
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