Bhagavad-gītā As It Is

Bhagavad-gītā 3.9–14

[poor recording]

Prabhupāda: Oṁ namo bhagavat...

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat]

Prabhupāda: Now we are on the ninth verse.

[leads chanting of verse] [devotees repeat]

yajñārthāt karmaṅo 'nyatra oko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara [Bg 3.9]

[Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṅu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.]

saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ anena prasaviṣyadhvam eṣa vo 'stv iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk [Bg 3.10]

[In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṅu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things.]

devān bhāvayatānena te devā bhāvayantu vaḥ parasparaṁ bhāvayantaḥ śreyaḥ param avāpsyatha [Bg 3.11]

[The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you; thus nourishing one another, there will reign general prosperity for all.]

iṣṭān bhogān hi vo devā dāsyante yajña-bhāvitāḥ tair dattān apradāyaibhyo yo bhuṅkte stena eva saḥ [Bg 3.12]

[In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajña [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return, is certainly a thief.]

yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṅāt [Bg 3.13]

[The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.]

annād bhavanti bhūtāni parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ yajñād bhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ [Bg 3.14]

[All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rain. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice], and yajña is born of prescribed duties.]

So,

yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṅāt [Bg 3.13]

[The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.]

Entanglement. This material life means entanglement—entanglement from evolutionary process from the lower grade of life. Just like the aquatics, gradually they come to the land as the water is evaporated. Originally, the whole planet was merged in the water. Pralaya-payodhi-jale dhṛtavān asi vedaṁ [Śrī Daśāvatāra Stotra 1].

[O Keśava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari who have assumed the form of a fish! All glories to You! You easily acted as a boat in the form of a giant fish to give protection to the Vedas, which had sunk in the turbulent sea of devastation.]

Prayala: that as the water dries up, the lands come out, then plants, trees, insects, beasts—in this way we get this human form of life. This is the process of evolution. This evolutionary process is mentioned in the Viṣṅu Purāṅa, but some Western scholars like Darwin, they have put forward a theory of evolution in a perverted way. But the evolutionary process is mentioned in the Viṣṅu Purāṅa.

So in the lower grade of life the entanglement is conducted by nature. But when you come to the human form of life you get higher consciousness, and you have to utilize your higher consciousness. That is the mission of human life. You cannot spoil your life making yourself behave like cats and dogs or animals. The animals, they have got four businesses: how to eat, how to sleep and how to have sex life and how to defend. This is animal life. So because we are in the material body, we have got the animal propensities and needs of the body. But because we are in higher consciousness, we have got another function. Another function means the cats and dogs, they cannot realize God, but a human being, although he has got the tendency for material necessities of life like cats and dogs,

āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca samānam etat paśubhir narāṅām [Hitopadeśa 25]

[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]

But on account of developed consciousness we can get out of this entanglement.

janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi- duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam [Bg 13.9]

[Humility, pridelessness, nonviolence, tolerance, simplicity, approaching a bona fide spiritual master, cleanliness, steadiness and self-control; renunciation of the objects of sense gratification, absence of false ego, the perception of the evil of birth, death, old age and disease; nonattachment to children, wife, home and the rest, and evenmindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events; constant and unalloyed devotion to Me, resorting to solitary places, detachment from the general mass of people; accepting the importance of self-realization, and philosophical search for the Absolute Truth—all these I thus declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to these is ignorance.]

So long we are in ignorance, we do not care for these four things: birth, death, old age and disease. We care, but don't take very seriously on them. Whether it can be stopped we do not seriously consider. But we can stop this process of birth, death, old age and disease. We can stop. And that is possible in this human form of life.

So in order to get out of this entanglement it is said, saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā [Bg 3.10].

The prajā, the prajā—everyone is prajā, but especially the human being—they are advised to perform yajña. That is the Vedic principle. So here it is said,

yajñārthāt karmaṅo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ [Bg 3.9]

If you, in the human form of life, if you do not perform yajña, then whatever you are doing, you are acting, you are becoming entangled, because you are creating a situation, you are contaminating yourself with the different types of modes of nature. That means you are creating your next body according to that modes of nature. Urdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā [Bg 14.18]: if you are in association with the modes of goodness, then you are preparing your body in the higher planetary system.

ūrdhvaṁ gacchanti sattva-sthā madhye tiṣṭhanti rājasāḥ [Bg 14.18]

[Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.]

If you are associating with the rajo guṅa, or the modes of passion, then you will remain in the middle planetary system, bhūr bhuvaḥ sva. This Bhūrloka is also middle. And,

jaghanya-guṅa-vṛtti-sthā adho gacchanti tāmasāḥ [Bg 14.18]

And if you are associating with the modes of ignorance, then you will go to the lower grade of life—either in the human form of life or the in animal form of life or birds, beasts—there are so many, 8,400,000 forms of life.

So in the human form of life it is your business whether to get out of this entanglement of constantly transmigrating from one body to another or remain in the cycle of birth and death and suffer the material miseries. As soon as you accept this material body, you'll have to suffer. Because just like we are feeling cold: Why you are feeling cold? Why we are covering? Because the skin is susceptible to cold and heat.

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṅa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ [Bg 2.14]

In the material world, in the winter season we think if we get summer season, this suffering will have not happened. And in the summer season we think if it was winter season then this suffering would not have come. This is going on. Both seasons are suffering, because suffering means because we have got this material body. That is explained,

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṅa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata [Bg 2.14]

Therefore we should not be very much agitated to this sufferings, the bodily skin suffering. We must execute our business, Kṛṣṅa consciousness, so that,

tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya [Bg 4.9]

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

This is the mission of human life. So here it is recommended that,

yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ [Bg 3.13]

[The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.]

If you perform yajña, then after yajña… Yajña means to worship Viṣṅu, or satisfy Lord Viṣṅu. That is called yajña. Yajñārthe. Another name of Viṣṅu is Yajña. So perform yajña or for Viṣṅu, if you work,

yajñārthāt karmaṅo 'nyatra karma-bandhanaḥ [Bg 3.9]

Otherwise you will be entangled. Therefore the process is that you must perform yajña and then take your food. Yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo. This is the business of the santaḥ. Santaḥ means saintly persons. Those who are animals, their business is different. But those who are santaḥ, I mean God conscious, Kṛṣṅa conscious, or brāhmaṅa, kṣatriya at least. Because,

kiṁ punar brāhmaṅāḥ puṅyā bhaktā rājarṣayas tathā [Bg 9.33]

[How much greater then are the brāhmaṅas, the righteous, the devotees and saintly kings who in this temporary miserable world engage in loving service unto Me.]

Brāhmaṅa, to take birth in the family of brāhmaṅa and kṣatriya also, it is higher standard of life. That is accepted. So santaḥ means great saintly person. Learned brāhmaṅa scholar and saintly kings, they are called santaḥ. I think in Latin it is called saint. From this word santaḥ it has come. Just like Saint Francis. Saint Francis? Or... Anyway. So,

yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ [Bg 3.13]

This is the duty of the human being. And what is the difficulty…, difficulty to perform yajña? There is no difficulty. It is universal. It is universal. Yajña means to satisfy the Supreme Lord, Viṣṅu, or Kṛṣṅa. So you can offer Kṛṣṅa foodstuff. You are cooking something for eating, but cook it very nicely, very cleanly, with vow that the cooking is being done for Kṛṣṅa. Then it will be hygienically also very clean. So you should cook for Kṛṣṅa and offer Him, "Kṛṣṅa, whatever I have cooked secure, kindly accept". Then you take your food. What is the difficulty? After all, you have to take your food and cook. So why don't you do it for Yajña, or Kṛṣṅa? Therefore it is the duty of householders especially. The sannyāsī or the brahmacārī, they cannot take the responsibility of arcanā, because there are so many things to be done. But a gṛhastha, they are naturally cooking for the family—why not cook it very nicely for Kṛṣṅa? Where is the difficulty? Simply you have to agree to cook for Kṛṣṅa, not for yourself. And if I cook for myself, what is the wrong? That is mentioned here, bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpām. Pāpā. Because we have to secure foodstuffs, especially nowadays from black market—yes, because there is no foodstuffs available. So the securing of foodstuffs is also pāpā. Because government has no black market, so the black market is pāpā. So if you secure foodstuff from black market and you cook for yourself, then you are responsible for the sinful activity. That is stated here:

bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ pāpā ye pacanty ātma-kāraṅāt [Bg 3.13]

But you can be saved from this black market sinful activities if you offer to Kṛṣṅa. Practical proposal. It is stated here. Now we have to secure food from black market; there is no denying. You cannot secure any good foodstuff from the ration shop. That is not possible. So either today or tomorrow, the whole world is going on in sinful activities. It is… Therefore they are called pañcasuna. Pañcasuna-yajña. Pañcasuna means five kinds of violence. When you take water, there are many small animals round the jug, and you kill them. When you, I mean to say, rub the spices on the mortar and pestle, you kill some germs or small ants and animals. When you set fire, you kill so many. When you walk on the street, you kill so many animals. So you cannot kill even an ant. If you kill consciously or unconsciously, you are responsible for the sinful activity. In God's kingdom you cannot say, "If I kill a small ant, what is the sin there?" No, it is all sinful, as much as if you kill one man, which is called murder. If man-made law is according to their whims, but God's law is not like that. It is equal to everyone. If you kill a human being or if you kill a small ant it is the same murdering charges against you. Therefore in the śāstra it is recommended pañcasuna-yajña. Because unconsciously we are killing so many animals; therefore the pañcasuna-yajña should be performed.

So anyway, yajña must be performed. Yajña, saha-yajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā [Bg 3.10]

it is said, that you are born to perform yajña, especially the human beings. Not the lower animals; they cannot perform. So if you do not perform yajña, then whatever you are eating, you are eating the resultant action of your sinful activities. And therefore if you eat in the ordinary way... If you steal and eat nicely, that means you are creating your path clear for being arrested by the police someday and be punished. Everyone knows that. Similarly, if you simply eat the sinful activities, then what will be the result? You'll be punished. That is being done. People are not performing yajña. Nobody is performing yajña. That you can say that at the present moment to perform yajña, to secure pure ghee and grains, it is difficult job. Yes, that's right. Because in the Kali-yuga the big yajñas, which require lots of ghee and food grains to offer, that is not possible.

Therefore it is recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,

yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ [SB 11.5.32]

Su-medhasaḥ. You have to perform yajña. Without performing yajña you'll be entangled in sinful activites. So in the Kali-yuga this is the yajña recommended in the Vedic literature:

kṛṣṅa-varṅaṁ tviṣākṛṣṅaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ [SB 11.5.32]

[In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the names of Kṛṣṅa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṅa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.]

Su-medhasaḥ means those who have got good brain—not persons whose brain is filled up with cow dung. No. Really brain substance, such person, they perform this saṅkīrtana-yajña. It is not very difficult. Just like we are preaching, here is kṛṣṅa-varṅaṁ tviṣākṛṣṅaṁ. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He's chanting: Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. And tviṣākṛṣṅaṁ: He's Kṛṣṅa. He is incarnation of Kṛṣṅa.

vrajendra-nandana yei śacī-suta haila sei balarāma ha-ila nitāi [Prārthanā]

This Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu, They are Kṛṣṅa-Balarāma, incarnation of Kṛṣṅa and Balarāma. So in this yajña means Viṣṅu or Kṛṣṅa-Balarāma, so to satisfy Them.

So in this age if you perform this congregational chanting, there is no expenditure. It is not the question of that you have to go, but somewhere out of your house—even in your house. You just keep one picture of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda, and the family members sit down, around. Just like we are sitting now and chanting: Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare. This kind of performing yajña, is there any expenditure? Or is there any loss? But you can perform yajña daily, twice, thrice. This is our preaching. Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement means that every householder, every man—not only householder; factory holder, every holder—they can perform this saṅkīrtana-yajña anywhere. If you can distribute some prasādam side by side, it is very good. Even if you do not distribute prasādam, simply chant this Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, then your life is successful. Otherwise,

bhuñjate te tv aghaṁ papa ye pacanty ātma-kāraṅāt [Bg 3.13]

[The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.]

Otherwise if you simply purchase from the black market and cook nicely and eat yourself, the result is that you are becoming more sinful, sinful, sinful and suffer the results, you see?

This is the, said by Kṛṣṅa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. You must perform this yajña. And it is not that yajña is to be performed by the rich, richer section of the population. No. Anyone can perform yajña.

sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje ahaituky apratihatā yayātmā samprasīdati [SB 1.2.6]

[The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord. Such devotional service must be unmotivated and uninterrupted to completely satisfy the self.]

This is the first-class system of religious performance, and by which you… The more you perform this saṅkīrtana-yajña, the more you become advanced in love of Godhead. That is required. Sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo. That is first-class religious system, yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, by which one can develop the dormant love for God. This is the principle.

So by this performance of yajña, gradually, ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanam, your heart will be cleansed, bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṅaṁ, and naturally the blazing fire of material existence will be extinguished.

Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṅaṁ śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṅaṁ [Cc Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1].

[Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṅa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṅa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.]

Then, gradually, just like this moon rises daily and becomes bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, one day the full moon, pūrṅimā. Similarly, if you perform this yajña in this age as recommended in the śāstra, saṅkīrtana-yajña, then gradually you'll develop your dormant love for Kṛṣṅa. Adhokṣaja. Yato bhaktir adhokṣaje, that is required. Ahaituky apratihatā: and this development of love of God cannot be checked by any material condition. Nobody can say, "Because I am this and that, therefore I cannot perform." That is not fact. Fact that you can sit down, just like gosvāmīs, sad-gosvāmīs, they used to live in this Vṛndāvana underneath tree. One night under one tree. And they were chanting:

kṛṣṅotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau premā. kṛṣṅotkīrtana-gāna-nartana-parau premāmṛtāmbho-nidhī dhīrādhīra-jana-priyau priya-karau vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau [Śrīnivāsa Ācārya]

[I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who are always engaged in chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṅa and dancing. They are just like the ocean of love of God, and they are popular both with the gentle and with the ruffians, because they are not envious of anyone. Whatever they do, they are all-pleasing to everyone, and they are fully blessed by Lord Caitanya. Thus they are engaged in missionary activities meant to deliver all the conditioned souls in the material universe.]

So this saṅkīrtana, Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, just like our these European and American students. They never knew that there was such a system, that… [end]