BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:11

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:11

 

devan bhavayatanena

te deva bhavayantu vah

parasparam bhavayantah

sreyah param avapsyatha

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

devan--demigods; bhavayata--having pleased; anena--by this sacrifice;

te--those; devah--demigods; bhavayantu--will please; vah--you;

parasparam--mutually; bhavayantah--pleasing one another;

sreyah--benediction; param--the supreme; avapsyatha--you will achieve.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you, and

thus, by cooperation between men and demigods, prosperity will reign

for all.

 

PURPORT

 

The demigods are empowered administrators of material affairs. The

supply of air, light, water and all other benedictions for maintaining

the body and soul of every living entity is entrusted to the demigods,

who are innumerable assistants in different parts of the body of the

Supreme Personality of Godhead. Their pleasures and displeasures are

dependent on the performance of yajnas by the human being. Some of the

yajnas are meant to satisfy particular demigods; but even in so doing,

Lord Visnu is worshiped in all yajnas as the chief beneficiary. It is

stated also in the Bhagavad-gita that Krsna Himself is the beneficiary

of all kinds of yajnas: bhoktaram yajna-tapasam. Therefore, ultimate

satisfaction of the yajna-pati is the chief purpose of all yajnas.

When these yajnas are perfectly performed, naturally the demigods in

charge of the different departments of supply are pleased, and there

is no scarcity in the supply of natural products.

 

Performance of yajnas has many side benefits, ultimately leading to

liberation from material bondage. By performance of yajnas, all

activities become purified, as it is stated in the Vedas:

ahara-suddhau sattva-suddhih sattva-suddhau dhruva smrtih smrti-lambhe

sarvagranthinam vipramoksah. By performance of yajna one's eatables

become sanctified, and by eating sanctified foodstuffs one's very

existence becomes purified; by the purification of existence finer

tissues in the memory become sanctified, and when memory is sanctified

one can think of the path of liberation, and all these combined

together lead to Krsna consciousness, the great necessity of

present-day society.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.