Gita 04.25 – Re-envision both karma-kanda and jnana-kanda as yajna

Bhagavad Gita 4.25 Here Krishna is continuing his description of sacrifices and he is stating he is beginning to list in several verses the different kinds of sacrifices that can be performed and here he mentions about two kinds of sacrifices broadly we could call this as the sacrifice of Karmakanda and the sacrifice of Jnanakanda so Karmakanda is worshipping of demigods and Jnanakanda is rejection of material existence for attaining impersonal liberation we have so Daivam eva pareyagyam yoginah paripasate Daivam eva pareyagyam Daivam eva pareyagyam some people do sacrifice to the devatas Daivam eva yoginah paripasate they properly worship they worship Daivam eva pareyagyam yoginah paripasate and then Brahma agnav apareyagyam sacrifice of Brahma in the fire of Brahma Brahma agnav apareyagyam some others yagye naivop juhuvati that they offer yagya in the fire of Brahma yagye naivop juhuvati so essentially what Krishna is telling here is that both of these activities the worship of the devatas and in worship of the impersonal Brahman both of them can be considered to be sacrifices because essentially at their core they are sacrifices they are essentially sacrifices meant for raising human consciousness now the seekers especially devatas when they are doing worship of the devatas normally it is done for getting some quick material results so in that sense the sacrifice to devatas is not done with a spiritual intention but that doesn't matter because the important thing is that the sacrifice is done and because there is acceptance of some higher reality due to the acceptance of that higher reality there is the understanding there is the gradual rising of consciousness the consciousness rises towards the awareness of the ultimate liberation that is available even if that liberation doesn't come immediately it may take many many lifetimes to rise towards liberation but still the point is that there is the onward movements towards that liberation there is the progress by recognizing that there is some higher reality and I need to harmonize that higher reality even if it is for getting some results at this level of reality but just that itself is a step forward and that step forward moves on and enables one to attain ultimately the supreme perfection it's a gradual step by step process and it doesn't happen quickly or easily but it does happen so the essential thing to do is to recognize that rather than just using one's own body and one's own endeavors to try to get pleasure the seeker is striving for something higher the seeker is knowing that there is some higher reality and I need to harmonize with that so daivam eva apareyagyam daiva the devatas yoginah now we may wonder normally karmakandis are not considered yogis that is true but here the yogis are not exactly like the demigod worshippers who are worshipping only for materialistic purposes there is just by the ongoing performance of demigod worship gradually because one is in the vedic context there is a gradual onward progress of one's understanding, one's realization and by that they move onwards towards the ultimate perfection and that's how it becomes a yajna this will be discussed in the later part of this verse in the later part of this section from verses 30 to 33 where after from 29 to 33 actually where after listing the various kinds of sacrifices then Krishna also goes into analyzing the principles underlying the sacrifices now interestingly while talking about the other kind of sacrifice brahmagnavapareyagyam yagyenaivopajuhvati so apare means some people, other people so some other people other people do this, other people do this like this Krishna will use the word apare again and again or apare or anye to indicate that these are different methods followed by different kinds of people so brahmagnavapareyagyam now it's interesting brahman is considered to be like an infinity of flight so it can at one level be compared to a fire and many popular depictions of liberation which often come in movies or on tv serials it's sometimes shown that the soul when liberated comes out of the body and merges into some dazzling white light which is far away so that is often the conception of people and the idea is that brahman is like a big fire and whereas in the other forms of sacrifice there is the understanding that okay one may offer some ghee or one may offer different things as we will see in the subsequent verses but here it says brahmagnavapareyagyam yagyenaivopapajhuvati so the soul offers itself the seeker offers oneself into the fire of brahman that means the soul thinks that I am going to get liberated and it is that liberation that I desire and for the sake of that liberation I want to attain I want to move forward I want to move onward I want to attain perfection I want to attain liberation and that's what the soul tries to do so essentially the point here is that the soul who is the seeker of liberation recognizes that by the act of the sacrifice that I am doing actually I am going to end my existence I am going to offer myself into the brahman and that way I am going to end my existence and that is unfortunate although it is unfortunate in the sense the soul will be deprived of the experience of love that is available for eternity when rather than merging one's existence one unites one's desires with the highest absolute truth but either way the idea is that the essence of sacrifices that we offer something which we could have used for ourselves for a higher cause now what exactly we offer and what is the higher cause there will be variety in that but that is the essential underlying principle of sacrifice that what we could have used for our gratification we offer for a higher purpose something which we could have used for our purpose so in the case of the demigod worshippers they may offer some ahuti, ghee or grains or whatever they may give some charity on the occasion of some devatas, charity more specifically we will talk about later when we talk about dravya yajna in 28 but essential point is that they offer something which could be used for one's own gratification for a higher purpose and in the case of the worship of brahman one offers oneself understanding that I will merge with the brahman so Krishna is saying these are different kinds of sacrifices so more or less first Krishna will give a list of different kinds of sacrifices which are possible so Krishna is not recommending any of these we will see a direct instructive verse verse injunction in the form of injunction do this will come in 4.34 so these are Krishna is rather than giving a recommendation is basically giving overview of the various kinds of sacrifices that are possible in this section and in this specific verse he gives two such worship of demigods and worship of impersonal brahman thank you.