Bhagavat Gita a detailed study-chapter4The truth about action

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24. brahmaarpaNam brahmahavih brahmaNaa hutham

brahmaiva thena ganthavyam brahkarmasamaaDhinaa

 

Brahman is the instrument with which the offering is o put in he fire. Brhamn is the oblation. It is offered by Brahmaninto the firwe of Brahman. By the one who meditates on Brahman by his actions , Brahman alone is reached.

 

Why does the action fails to produce result that affects the doer but gets dissolved? To the enlightened who have acquired the perception that sarvam khalu idham brahma, all this is Brahman, all their activities are done with a spirit of yajna .The means of a yajna like the ladle with which the offering is put in the fire, brahmaarpanam, the thing that is offered, havih, the fire itself, agnih, the one who does the yajna and the yajna itself, everything is Brahman. The word brahmaarpanam is used not as a compound but as arpanam brahma, the means of yajna is Brahman. This sacrificer who concentrates on the act that is Brahman reaches Brahman alone, brahmaiva thena ganthavyam brahmakarmasamaadhinaa. One whose intellect is established in Brahman is one having brahmakarmasamaadhi and the goal to reach for him is Brahman. All his actions lead him to Brahman-realisation. This verse implies that the right perception of Brahman everywhere in everything is the means of emancipation. Such jnana itself becomes the fire that consumes all the karma of the doer so that he experiences no more samsara as a result of his karma.

 

 

 

25. dhaivameva apare yajne yoginaH paryupaasathe

brahmaagnou apare yajnamyajnenaeva upajuhvathi

 

 

Daivamevaapare -some yogis do the karmanushtaana like worship of the Lord in any form and other activities as laid out in the Vedas according to varna and asrama as yajna. Here the word yogi refers to the one who does all these activities with detachment and without desire, shedding the thought of `I' and `Mine.' The yajna here is deva yajna which includes yaga, ,japa and worship to deities as prescribed in the Vedas..

 

Of five kinds of yajnas to be performed by a grhastha, man of the world, brahmayajna, the study of Vedas and acquiring the knowledge of Brahman, devayajna, the performance of worship like japa, homa and the other activities done to propitiate the divine, pitryajna like sraaddha and others done towards the pitrs, manes, manushya yajna which are services of charity, hospitality and welfare of mankind and bhootha yajna, kindness and service to living beings other than humans, Deva yajna has been mentioned above and brahma yajna is denoted by brahmmaagnou apare yajnam yajnenaiva upajuhvathi, others offer their selves in the fire of brahman being endowed with the awareness of their identity with Brahman.

 

The knowledge of their real self being nothing but Brahman as the advaita contends, or that their real Self is the Lord of whom everything including their individual self is the body or part of Him, as professed by visishtadvaita, gives the perception that the world is not as it appears to be but only Brahman in reality. The purpose of mentioning this kind of yogis as distinct from those described at the outset by the verse `brahmaarpanam brahmahavih----- ` is to show that while the former is an enlightened soul the latter refers to the state prior to enlightenment as the knowledge that the world is not as it appears to be leads to the awareness of Brahman everywhere.