At this stage, it will be beneficial to fully understand what the word ‘yajña’ means. More than 1000 verses are dedicated to this in the Rig Veda. It will be a fundamental mistake to regard this as a mere ritual or rite. The Veda clearly describes it as i) Journey ii) Climbing a hill iii) A battle and also (iv) Worship or Rite. The central idea is very clear that the worship or rite is not done by a human being. Agni, the deva is invoked to perform all the functions associated with various human priests. Interestingly, Agni is called upon to worship on behalf of the ṛishi, not merely the other devas, but also the human beings who have attained perfection (described in the following Mantra 1, Suktha 45 and Mandala 1 of Rig Veda Samhita).
“tvam agne vasun iha rudran adityan uta , yaja svadhvaram janam manujatam ghrutaprusham”
Detailed meaning: Worship not only Gods like Vasus, worship also the illumined men who adore the Gods through the offerings of knowledge. Such men are like Gods and their lives dedicated to the Gods. (Since Agni is the priest, he is requested to worship these men along with the Gods).
Rig Vedic mystics realised that a human being performs an effective action only through the assistance he gets from the devas, where as his own contribution is nominal. In fact, even the greatest Vedic poets obtained inspiration from superior planes and their contribution was restricted only to transcribe the revealed verses. With this it is very clear that yajña is an activity recognising the collaboration between the deva and the human. The much later scripture ‘Bhagavad Gita’ specifically mentions the different yajnãs by name such as yajña of obtaining material objects, obtaining knowledge, involving self-study etc.,
i) Yajña as a ‘journey’: The word Adhvara’ is used here. It is derived from ‘adhva’ (path) and ‘ - ra’ (to move). Taking this as an advantage, pure ritualists regarded this as a synonym for rite, since one of the principal priests performing the worship is called ‘Adhvaryu’. However, for a proper interpretation one need to ask: What is this journey? Every action in our life is a step in our journey towards realising the goal called bliss, an all-sided perfection of not just the physical body, but the vital and mental ones too. This can also be extended to mean, not just individual perfection but for a society at large. Veda uses the imagery of voyage to say that a person doing yajña, reaches different states of consciousness, gets priceless experiences and brings them back to the ordinary living conditions too, thus making the human life Divine.
ii) Yajña as ‘climbing from one peak to another’: It is going to be a steady climb going from one degree of perfection to another. Rig Veda explicitly states that no one can be consciously aware of the entire journey. One can at best know what can be done at that stage. Only when one peak is reached, the other can be seen and to realise as to how much more is to be accomplished. Whenever help is needed, the devas will again manifest and guide us along.
iii) Yajña as a battle: The devas are the helpful powers of the nature. However, there are powers such as dasyus, Vṛtra and Vala too and they are the thieves and destroyers. They impede our progress and do not recognise the principle of collaboration. They influence human beings and bring out bad qualities like jealousy, greed etc. The human collaborators need to call upon the devas to battle out them. Thus Yajña becomes a battle too.
iv) Yajña as a rite or ritual: This is a symbolic physical representation of various steps involved in the collaboration. The ritual begins with the invocation of Agni by lighting of the physical fire. The dry fuel called ‘samit’ is fed to the fire, representing all the qualities that are not necessary or inappropriate. The fire is nourished by the ghee or clarified butter, representing mental clarity. The Soma herb which stands for the bliss released in all actions, is also offered to Agni besides rice and grains. These are some of the steps taken during the famous Soma rite.
(to be continued)
- C. Krishnamurthy (chamathu2003@yahoo.co.uk)
“tvam agne vasun iha rudran adityan uta , yaja svadhvaram janam manujatam ghrutaprusham”
Detailed meaning: Worship not only Gods like Vasus, worship also the illumined men who adore the Gods through the offerings of knowledge. Such men are like Gods and their lives dedicated to the Gods. (Since Agni is the priest, he is requested to worship these men along with the Gods).
Rig Vedic mystics realised that a human being performs an effective action only through the assistance he gets from the devas, where as his own contribution is nominal. In fact, even the greatest Vedic poets obtained inspiration from superior planes and their contribution was restricted only to transcribe the revealed verses. With this it is very clear that yajña is an activity recognising the collaboration between the deva and the human. The much later scripture ‘Bhagavad Gita’ specifically mentions the different yajnãs by name such as yajña of obtaining material objects, obtaining knowledge, involving self-study etc.,
i) Yajña as a ‘journey’: The word Adhvara’ is used here. It is derived from ‘adhva’ (path) and ‘ - ra’ (to move). Taking this as an advantage, pure ritualists regarded this as a synonym for rite, since one of the principal priests performing the worship is called ‘Adhvaryu’. However, for a proper interpretation one need to ask: What is this journey? Every action in our life is a step in our journey towards realising the goal called bliss, an all-sided perfection of not just the physical body, but the vital and mental ones too. This can also be extended to mean, not just individual perfection but for a society at large. Veda uses the imagery of voyage to say that a person doing yajña, reaches different states of consciousness, gets priceless experiences and brings them back to the ordinary living conditions too, thus making the human life Divine.
ii) Yajña as ‘climbing from one peak to another’: It is going to be a steady climb going from one degree of perfection to another. Rig Veda explicitly states that no one can be consciously aware of the entire journey. One can at best know what can be done at that stage. Only when one peak is reached, the other can be seen and to realise as to how much more is to be accomplished. Whenever help is needed, the devas will again manifest and guide us along.
iii) Yajña as a battle: The devas are the helpful powers of the nature. However, there are powers such as dasyus, Vṛtra and Vala too and they are the thieves and destroyers. They impede our progress and do not recognise the principle of collaboration. They influence human beings and bring out bad qualities like jealousy, greed etc. The human collaborators need to call upon the devas to battle out them. Thus Yajña becomes a battle too.
iv) Yajña as a rite or ritual: This is a symbolic physical representation of various steps involved in the collaboration. The ritual begins with the invocation of Agni by lighting of the physical fire. The dry fuel called ‘samit’ is fed to the fire, representing all the qualities that are not necessary or inappropriate. The fire is nourished by the ghee or clarified butter, representing mental clarity. The Soma herb which stands for the bliss released in all actions, is also offered to Agni besides rice and grains. These are some of the steps taken during the famous Soma rite.
(to be continued)
- C. Krishnamurthy (chamathu2003@yahoo.co.uk)
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