Gimpses of BHagavad Gita

[Guest guest]

-Glimpses of the Bhagwad Gita -

 

 

istan bhogan hi vo deva

 

dasyante yajna-bhavitah

 

tair dattan apradayaibhyo

 

yo bhunkte stena eva sah

 

sYNONYMS

istan--desired; bhogan--necessities of life; hi--certainly; vahunto

you; devah--the demigods; dasyante--award; yajna-bhavitahbeing

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

things given; apradaya--without offering; ebhyah--to the demigods;

yah -he who; bhunkte--enjoys; stenah--thief; eva--certainly; sah--is

he.

 

TRANSLATION

 

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

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

necessities to man. But he who enjoys these 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

persons in the mode of goodness, and also eatables for the non-

vegetarians, like meats, etc., 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 life 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.

 

 

 

" Excerpted from " Bhagavad-gita As It Is " by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

Prabhupada, courtesy of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International,

www.Krishna. com. "