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Category Archives: yajante

Bhagavad Gita Verse 4, Chapter 17

24 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in 17.4, bhootaganaam, chapter 17 verse 4, devaan, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, janaahaa, pretaan, raajasaahaa, saattvikaa, taamasaa, yajante, yaksharakshaamsi

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yajante saattvikaa devaanyaksharakshaamsi raajasaahaa |
pretaanbhootaganaamshchaanye yajante taamasaa janaahaa || 4 ||
 
Saatvic individuals worship deities, raajasic individuals worship the yakshas and the raakshasas, others, taamasic individuals, the pretas and band of bhootas.
 
yajante : worship
saattvikaa : saatvic individuals
devaan : deities
yaksharakshaamsi : yakshas and raakshasas
raajasaahaa : raajasic individuals
pretaan : pretas
bhootaganaam : band of bhootas
cha : and
anye : others
yajante : worship
taamasaa : taamasic
janaahaa : individuals
 
Shri Krishna says that people who have faith can be placed in three categories. Those that worship deities such as Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva and so on are saatvic. Those that worship materialistic spirits or yakshas such as Kubera the lord of wealth are raajasic. Those that worship ghosts and demons are taamasic. Hearing this, we may say that we only worship deities. We never worship anything else. Therefore, we may conclude that we are highly saatvic individuals.
 
But as we have seen in karma yoga, the attitude with which we perform an action is equally important as the action itself. Imagine that three people visit the same temple at the same time and pray to the same deity. One person may pray because he wants his daughter to get married. One may pray to knock off his business competitor. Another may pray so that he attains liberation in this life. Outwardly, they may seem to be doing the same action, but there is a world of difference in their attitude. This difference in attitude is symbolically conveyed in the shloka using terms such as ghosts and demons.
 
So, analyzing our actions is not as easy as observing what we do. We also need to note our attitude behind our actions. As we saw earlier, our nature or svabhaava determines our attitude and our actions. To uncover the texture of our faith, we first need to uncover our attitudes and motivations, which requires a high degree of awareness. To get better and doing so, Shri Krishna covers a gamut of actions in this chapter so that we can practice observing our attitude as well as our actions, observe what we do and why we do it.

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Bhagavad Gita Verse 1, Chapter 17

21 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in 17.1, aaho, anvitaahaa, chapter 17 verse 1, kaa, krishna, nishthaa, rajas, sattvam, shaastravidhim, shraddhayaa, tamaha, teshaam, utrisrijya, yajante

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Arjuna uvaacha:
ye shaastravidhimutrisrijya yajante shraddhayaanvitaahaa |
teshaam nishthaa tu kaa krishna sattvamoho rajastamaha || 1 ||
 
Arjuna said:
Those who, setting aside laws of scripture, perform worship endowed with faith, O Krishna, what is their position? Is it of sattva, rajas or tamas?
 
ye : those who
shaastravidhim : laws of scripture
utrisrijya : setting aside
yajante : perform worship
shraddhayaa : faith
anvitaahaa : endowed with
teshaam : their
nishthaa : position
tu : then
kaa : what
krishna : O Krishna
sattvam : sattva
aaho : or
rajas : rajas
tamaha : tamas
 
In order to prevent the prompting of actions by selfish desire, we should use the scriptures as a guide to decide what to do or what not to do. This was the concluding message of the previous chapter. Hearing this, the word “shaastra” or scripture stuck in Arjuna’s mind. Perhaps he foresaw that over the course of time, most people will not have access to scriptures. They will not be able to receive the guidance of a real guru who truly cares about their spiritual growth versus extracting money from them. He wanted to know, like all of us do, how to use our judgement without access to scriptural laws.
 
Let us now investigate what category of people Arjuna is speaking about. There are those who may have access to the scriptures, may even understand the scriptures, but have no inclination of following them. Such people were covered in the last chapter under the category of devilish qualities. Conversely, there are people who understand the scriptures and also conduct their life according to scriptures. These people were covered under the category of divine qualities. This chapter covers those people who do not have access to the scriptures, but yet try to lead their lives through faith, sincerity and honesty.
 
So then, Arjuna asks this extremely practical question on behalf of common people who have faith in some higher principle. Some may be devotees of Shri Krishna, some of Lord Shiva, some of Lord Ganesha. Some may not have faith in a deity but may have faith in a spiritual text such as the Gita. Some may have not have faith in any of these but may have faith in a friend, spouse or relative who has faith in a deity or a spiritual text. Some may have faith in their nation or in a higher cause such as improving the state of the nation’s education system.
 
Regardless of what their faith is, such people would like to set themselves on a path that gains them happiness in the material world, and also enables them to pursue the supreme goal of self realization or liberation. In the absence of scripture as the authority, faith determines the course of action for such people. How can they determine whether their faith is saattvic, rajasic or tamasic? How can they ensure that their faith is leading them in the right direction?

Bhagavad Gita Verse 17, Chapter 16

12 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in 16.17, aatmasambhaavitaahaa, avidhipoorvakam, chapter 16 verse 17, dambhena, dhanamaanamadaanvitaahaa, naamayajnaihi, stabdhaa, te, yajante

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aatmasambhaavitaahaa stabdhaa dhanamaanamadaanvitaahaa |
yajante naamayajnaiste dambhenaavidhipoorvakam || 17 ||
 
Self praising, stubborn, filled with intoxication of wealth and fame, they, arrogantly and unsystematically, conduct sacrifices for name only.
 
aatmasambhaavitaahaa : self praising
stabdhaa : stubborn
dhanamaanamadaanvitaahaa : filled with intoxication of wealth and fame
yajante : conduct
naamayajnaihi : sacrifices for name only
te : they
dambhena : arrogantly
avidhipoorvakam : unsystematically
 
When one is overly materialistic, one is always engaged in a constant game of one-upmanship with one’s rivals. Such people put in a lot of effort to create the impression that they are always one step ahead with regards to wealth, power and achievements as compared to their rivals. Shri Krishna paints a picture of this game of one upmanship in this shloka. He examines how such people perform sacrificial rituals. Let us look at the broader meaning of the term sacrifice, which means any activity undertaken for the greater good of society, commonly termed social service.
 
For instance, imagine that an extremely materialistic individual, one who has devilish qualities, announces that he will build a school in an impoverished village. First of all, whether the individual is qualified to build a school or not does not matter. He will praise himself and claim that he is qualified. He will probably not take advice from others, given his stubborn nature. He will make a big announcement in the media, but the emphasis will be on the charitable qualities of the founder than of the school he is building.
 
When in year or so, the hype of the media has died down, and students start attending the school, all kinds of irregularities are discovered. The building construction is faulty. There is no proper budget for hiring good teachers. The money raised for this effort has been funnelled into questionable channels. In a nutshell, the entire effort has been conducted unsystematically, only for the temporary image enhancement of the founder in the media. As with the other scenarios we have seen in this chapter, the root of all this is the intoxication of wealth and fame.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 23, Chapter 9

18 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by in 9.23, anvitaahaa, anyadevataahaa, api, avidhipoorvakam, bhaktaahaa, chapter 9 verse 23, eva, kaunteya, maam, shraddhyaa, te, yajante, yajanti, ye

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yepyanyadevataa bhaktaa yajante shraddhyaanvitaahaa |
tepi maameva kaunteya yajantyavidhipoorvakam || 23 ||
 
Even those devotees who worship other deities, filled with faith, they also worship me only, O Kaunteya, (but) incorrectly.
 
ye : those
api : even
anyadevataahaa : other deities
bhaktaahaa : devotees
yajante : worship
shraddhyaa : faith
anvitaahaa : filled with
te : they
api : also
maam : me
eva : only
kaunteya : O Kaunterya
yajanti : worship
avidhipoorvakam : incorrectly
 
The recurring theme of this chapter is the removing misconceptions about the worship of Ishvara. Shri Krishna again invokes that theme in this shloka. He says that those devotees who worship deities other than the infinite Ishvara ultimately worship him, but do so in a wrong manner.
 
Many of us have been brought up in a tradition in which we worship a specific deity. As children, we are taught to invoke that deity during auspicious occasions, during periods of prosperity as well as periods of difficulty. We should be grateful to our parents for inculcalting these good sanskaaraas or habits in us at an early age. However, Shri Krishna says that as we grow older, it is important to have the correct knowledge of what we are worshipping, because in most cases, our knowledge is limited and incorrect.
 
What is this incorrect knowledge? Thinking that what we are worshipping is a finite deity in a certain form is incorrect knowledge. When we see a small government office, we do not make the mistake of thinking that a small office contains the government of an entire nation. Or when we look at a wave, we never imagine that the entire ocean is just that small wave.
 
Similarly, even though we worship a finite deity in our home or in a temple, we should never think that we are worshipping just that finite deity. If we think in that way, our worship will be incorrect, it will have a flaw.
 
So then, what is the right knowledge? It is knowing that we are worshipping Ishvara in his infinite nature. Just like we contact the entire Internet when we surf the web on our phone, we contact the infinite Ishvara when we worship a finite deity. Ishvara is the foundation of everything, therefore ultimately all prayers reach Ishvara.
 
Why do most devotees commit this error? This is explained next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 12, Chapter 4

02 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in 4.12, bhavati, chapter 4 verse 12, devataaha, hi, iha, kaankshantaha, karmajaa, karmanam, kshipram, loke, maanushe, siddhim, siddih, yajante

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kaankshantaha karmanaam siddhim yajanta iha devataaha |
kshipram hi maanushe loke siddhirbhavati karmajaa || 12 ||

Those who desire success in actions worship deities; for in this human world, results of action are obtained instantly.

kaankshantaha : desiring
karmanaam : through actions
siddhim : results
yajante : worship
iha : this
devataaha : deities
kshipram : instant
hi : for
maanushe : human
loke : world
siddhih : success
bhavati : obtained
karmajaa : through action

We saw in the previous shloka that Ishvaraa is like an impartial computer system. He responds in the same manner in which people seek him. So then the question arises? Why don’t people approach him for self-realization? Would they not get it if they ask him?

Shri Krishna says that most of us do not desire self-realization, we only desire material objects because they give us instant happiness. We have been conditioned to perform actions that get quick results. We make instant coffee and it gives us instant satisfaction. And when we want results that are beyond our immediate control, we approach and appease forces in nature that can grant us the result we need. These forces could be human beings – we may propitiate a local politician if we want to set up a business in a particular town.

But, not matter how satisfying the result is, it will only give us temporary happiness because we have approached a force of nature that is a subset of Ishvaraa. Ishvaraa is the ultimate force in nature. Only he can give us permanent happiness in the form of self-realization.

Moreover, this permanent happiness is not a result of any outward actions. Actions performed in the spirit of karmayoga will no doubt help purify our mind. But the ultimate goal of self-realization is not the result of any outward action, it is only through the removal of ignorance in the form of selfish desire.

If we recall, “samarpana buddhi” or the wisdom of dedicating actions is one of the five main aspects of karmayoga. So therefore, these shlokas deal with the topic of Ishvaraa so that he will become the ultimate ideal to whom we can dedicate all our actions to.