Meaning of the terms ‘yAga’ and ‘homa’.

[Guest guest]

Meaning of the terms 'yAga' and 'homa'.

This is a rather unusual subject.

The gItA refers to yajna which is the same as yAga. The muNDaka up. 1.2.7 refers to a yajna with eighteen constituents. yajna is referred to in other upanishads also. br. up, 4.4.22 says that performance of yajna is one of the means for attaining vividiShA—the desire to know the Self.

yAga is defined as- devatoddeshena dravyatyAgaH--Meaning—yAga is dedication of some substance to a deity.

homa is defined as—tasya agnau prakShepaH homaH--Meaning- Offering that substance into the sacrificial fire is homa.

Those who have performed or watched a homa must have heard the sentence uttered - indrAya idam, na mama- This means, "This substance is for Indra, it is no longer mine". This is yAga or dedication of the substance to the deity. The priests pronounce this so fast that one cannot discern the words.

Then while offering the substance into the fire the person says; "indrAya svAhA'. This is homa.

svAha is for offerings to devatas and svadhA is for offerings to the pitRi's, the manes.

We generally think of yAga and homa as different. We consider yAga to be a big ritual conducted with a number of priests (called Ritviks), while homa is considered to be a small function performed at home, such as Ganapati homam, etc. But it will be seen from the meanings given above that every oblation into the fire involves a yAga (dedicating the substance to the deity) and a homa (offering the same substance into the fire).

Shri Shankara says in br. up. 3. 9. 21, that, when the yAga is performed by priests, the yajamAna (for whom the yAga is performed) gets the result of the yAga for himself by paying dakShiNA (remuneration) to the priests. The result would otherwise go only to the priests. This applies to the 'homa' performed at home also.

I am giving this just as a matter of information. Please do not conclude that I am a ritualist. I may point out that Shri Shankara says in his bhAshya on br. up. 4.4.22 that the "whole of the vedas (including the karma kANDa) is applicable to the subject of the Self".

PraNAms

Hara Hara Sankara Jaya Jaya SankaraS.N.Sastri