BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:12

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:12

 

istan bhogan hi vo deva

dasyante yajna-bhavitah

tair dattan apradayaibhyo

yo bhunkte stena eva sah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

istan--desired; bhogan--necessities of life; hi--certainly; vah--unto

you; devah--the demigods; dasyante--will award; yajna-bhavitah--being

satisfied by the performance of sacrifices; taih--by them;

dattan--things given; apradaya--without offering; ebhyah--to these

demigods; yah--he who; bhunkte--enjoys; stenah--thief; eva--certainly;

sah--he.

 

TRANSLATION

 

In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being

satisfied by the performance of yajna [sacrifice], will supply all

necessities to you. But he who enjoys such gifts without offering them

to the demigods in return is certainly a thief.

 

PURPORT

 

The demigods are authorized supplying agents on behalf of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead, Visnu. Therefore, they must be satisfied by

the performance of prescribed yajnas. In the Vedas, there are

different kinds of yajnas prescribed for different kinds of demigods,

but all are ultimately offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

For one who cannot understand what the Personality of Godhead is,

sacrifice to the demigods is recommended. According to the different

material qualities of the persons concerned, different types of yajnas

are recommended in the Vedas. Worship of different demigods is also on

the same basis--namely, according to different qualities. For example,

the meat-eaters are recommended to worship the goddess Kali, the

ghastly form of material nature, and before the goddess the sacrifice

of animals is recommended. But for those who are in the mode of

goodness, the transcendental worship of Visnu is recommended. But

ultimately all yajnas are meant for gradual promotion to the

transcendental position. For ordinary men, at least five yajnas, known

as panca-maha-yajna, are necessary.

 

One should know, however, that all the necessities of life that the

human society requires are supplied by the demigod agents of the Lord.

No one can manufacture anything. Take, for example, all the eatables

of human society. These eatables include grains, fruits, vegetables,

milk, sugar, etc., for the persons in the mode of goodness, and also

eatables for the nonvegetarians, like meats, none of which can be

manufactured by men. Then again, take for example heat, light, water,

air, etc., which are also necessities of life--none of them can be

manufactured by the human society. Without the Supreme Lord, there can

be no profuse sunlight, moonlight, rainfall, breeze, etc., without

which no one can live. Obviously, our life is dependent on supplies

from the Lord. Even for our manufacturing enterprises, we require so

many raw materials like metal, sulphur, mercury, manganese, and so

many essentials--all of which are supplied by the agents of the Lord,

with the purpose that we should make proper use of them to keep

ourselves fit and healthy for the purpose of self-realization, leading

to the ultimate goal of life, namely, liberation from the material

struggle for existence. This aim of fife is attained by performance of

yajnas. If we forget the purpose of human life and simply take

supplies from the agents of the Lord for sense gratification and

become more and more entangled in material existence, which is not the

purpose of creation, certainly we become thieves, and therefore we are

punished by the laws of material nature. A society of thieves can

never be happy, because they have no aim in life. The gross

materialist thieves have no ultimate goal of life. They are simply

directed to sense gratification; nor do they have knowledge of how to

perform yajnas. Lord Caitanya, however, inaugurated the easiest

performance of yajna, namely the sankirtana-yajna, which can be

performed by anyone in the world who accepts the principles of Krsna

consciousness.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.