What is the Yajna?

[Guest guest]

O Magnamimous One!<br>I bow to your radiance, the

golden dust that falls from the One. <br>One day while

visiting the online websites, I happened upon

www.geocities.com/silentsoul_55/katho1.html <br>After reading through 1-6, I

still have one

question about something I read therein: "Yama: There are

two ways, one for spiritual enlightenment and the

other for worldly happiness. The Yajna etc. gives

worldly richness or heaven but the way of enlightenment

gives Moksha. These two ways are different and if you

ask for one the other is lost." What is the Yajna

(etc)? <br>Sri Krsna says in the Bhagavad Gita that

regardless of the form or name one employs in worship, all

worship actually goes to the Inconceivable Divinity. In

reality, there is only God. Hari Krsna, Hari

Rama<br>"Breathing in and out, yawning, sneezing and bodily

secretions are described by experts as functions DEPENDING

ON Inner Energy. While hunger and thrist for truth

are functions OF Inner Energy direct." (Emphasis

mine) Number 102 from The Crest Jewel of Wisdom by Sri

Sankaracharya. Sankaracharya being the foremost exponent of

Advaita Vedanta was the school my yoga teacher taught.

Here one discovers the harmony that will culminate in

the realization of the identity of the One Truth. No

further discipline is necessary for the realization. The

moment the illusory nature of the mirage is recognized,

the true nature of the desert is revealed. When

oneness with the Supreme Self is realized, the idea of a

separate individuality altogether dissappears. But this

does not mean a cessation of existence. For the idea

of individuality and otherness belongs only to the

shpere of duality, which is conjured up by ignorance. We

also used the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Another

question: Was Patanjali a student of the Vedanta?<br>I lost

contact with my yoga teacher about eighteen years ago. He

took me through the yoga teacher training program, and

I have been a yoga teacher for almost twenty years.

He sent me out on my own, and I have had a wonderful

life, always practicing patience and receiving students

sent to me. Now, after many wonderous hours of

meditations, which always brought me untold joy and bliss, I'm

wondering if I need a Sat Guru to attain higher levels of

meditation? The places I have been are undescribable, but if

I may be permitted to try and put some of it into

words you may glean of what level I am. Through

meditation, I have seen the all-at-one-ment of an atom matrix

and that resides within my heart. I have seen a clear

bright white light as a cloud with the whiteness of a

master therein. I have seen the voidness as a whirlwind

with golden particles(like a duststorm defined by the

dust), like the dust of love defining its shape. I have

been in 5 hour meditations, where breathless, I know

not how long, but feeling therein as a speck before

the eye of a colossal One. I have had numerous

meditations of breathlessness and feeliing only this soothing

vibration. Each time letting go because the first time I was

a little afraid an at that moment of fear, I

breathed.<br>And so I frimly grasp the sword and slash the veil

the covers the Light of the One.<br><br>Om, Shanti,

Bliss and Enjoying the journey, Annapurna

[Guest guest]

Dear annapurna, tks for the beautiful poem. In

Kathopanishada Nachiketa asked for second boon to know about a

yajna by which one goes to heaven and as third boon he

wishes to know about Soul. Hence Yama tells him that

doing Yajana (as per vedic traditions) one may get

heaven not Moksha.<br><br>To worship various deities and

to engage oneself in giving away wealth in charity,

in doing penance and in the performance of

sacrifices,all types of yajna as describe in Vedas, are useful

activities for the purification of mind, but are no

substitute for the realization of SELF. Due to ignorance,

there arises the false notion that there are three

entities namely, the Jivatma(my individual soul), the

Isvara (god) and Paramatama (Supreme Consciousness). The

real wakefulness comes after forgetting names and

forms and by realizing the underlying reality, namely

the SELF which may be called Brahma, Parmatama, God,

ParamShiva, or any such name.<br><br> Patanjali Yoga Sutra

are based on "Sankhya" Philosophy of Hinduism which

believes in Purusha(supereme consciousness),

Prakriti(Nature) and Jivatma (Individual soul). Sankhya Philosophy

was further corrected by Vedanta !<br><br> About

visions and progress signs, i hope you have read the

article on visions on my web-page. As this is a purely

personal matter, we may discuss this further on e-mail

(silentsoul_55) and compare notes. <br><br>Hari Om Tat

Sat<br><br>silentsoul