Hindu Dharma

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The Celestials and Mortals Help Each Other from Hindu Dharma

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 are

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.