Gita 04.30 – The knowers of yajna attain purification, satisfaction and liberation

Bhagavad Gita 4.13 Sarve Pe Te Yajna Vidho Yajna Kshapita Kalma Shaha Yajna Shishtam Ritam Bhujo Yanti Brahma Sanatanam Sarve Pe Te all these Krishna has talked about Anya Anya Apare these people these people that people so many different types of people Krishna has talked about now from this 30th 33rd verse Krishna will give summary of the principles of yajna from 25 to 29 he has given overview of different different activities that can be re-envisioned as yajna now in so after giving a quick overview of the various activities that are pursued in the field of dharma in the Vedic cultural context and re-envisioning them from the sacrifice now Krishna is moving forward to talk about how the principle of sacrifice acts so that he will talk about in these verses sarvepya ete yajna vidho sarvepya all these kinds of people ete these yajna vidho they are the knowers of yajna so knowers of yajna means those who don't see yajna only in specific terms as offering aahuti into a fire but they understand the underlying principle that it is offering that which could be used for one's pleasure for a higher purpose and then what happens to them yajna kshapita kalmashaha kalmashaha kalmashaha is the contamination in their heart yajna kshapita they become purified they become freed from the cleansed of the kalmashaha so kalmashaha Krishna has already used a similar sounding word which also has a similar meaning that is kashmalaha kutasthva kashmala midam pishame samupastitam it is 2.2 in the Bhagavad Gita where are these weaknesses come upon so although it's not exactly similar meaning but the similar sounding is not exactly identically meaning but similar in meaning so yajna kshapita kalmashaha by the process of yajna kshapita that means one becomes cleansed of the impurities and then what happens once one is cleansed yajna shishta amrta bhujo yajna shishta amrta bhujo yajna shishta is the remanence of sacrifice shishta is usually remanence now Krishna has used this word yajna shishta in 3.13 in a often quoted verse yajna shishta sinasanto yajna shishta sinasanto mucchante sarva kirbhishe bhunjate te tvagham bapa ye pacchanti atma karanat yajna shishta so Krishna is talking about how the remanence of sacrifice are freed from all sins and this was often used to explain the basis by which we offer food to Krishna and take his prasad so yajna shishta amrta bhujo so amrta bhujo is to enjoy the word enjoy is often used is often given a bad press negative connotation but we are ultimately enjoyers the only problem is that we are not independent enjoyers we are subordinate enjoyers we want to enjoy with Krishna so that kind of enjoyment is talked about over here yajna shishta amrta bhujo the remanence of sacrifice are like nectar and one who enjoys that nectar amrta bhujo so what happens to that person one who enjoys that yajna shishta amrta bhujo yanti brahma sanatana that person will attain brahma sanatana brahma is spirit sanatana is eternal yanti means to go they will go to the eternal spiritual destination so now the word amrit has again a specific meaning and a generic meaning specifically the word amrit refers to the nectar of a mortality that is drunk simply by the devatas so for example to get just such a nectar the churning of the milk churning of the past the past time the churning of the milk quotient happened but beyond that the devatas they have a soma rasa that is also to some extent like a nectar the principle is that those who want nectar that they often think of nectar in very literal or physical terms as an object to be consumed krishnananda said talking about it in this terms although that imagery does gel with the principle of sacrifice so or with the form of sacrifice many times when the say the kings perform a yajna if they perform then after the performance of the putra kameshti yajna then there is the principle of put of purification that is the principle of the principle that either the devata whom one has worshipped the devata will come and the devata will offer some form of amrit so for example when the Maharaj performed a yajna for putra kameshti for getting a putra then it was an elaborate sacrifice perform and after that devata gave what devata gave in a scientified form some payasam which is like a nectar and when dashrath's wives drank that nectar they ate the payasam then they begot children they begot sons so the important point is that there is the in yagya imagery often when the yagya is performed successfully there are celestial beings who come and offer amrita so krishna is continuing to invoke that imagery over here and he says that here the amrita which they get is not exactly that kind of physical object which is to be consumed rather it is a inner taste that is to be relished yajna kshapita kalmashaha it was stated so kalmashaha impurities are those that misdirect our consciousness making that consciousness go from worldly object from spiritual reality from Krishna towards the worldly objects the more impurities we have the more our consciousness goes from worldly objects and from Krishna to worldly objects but the more pure we are the more our consciousness stays on Krishna and when we become purified in our capacity to keep our consciousness fixed on Krishna increases so here it is described yajna kshapita kalmashaha by the process of yajna the kalmashaha that are there in our consciousness they become kshapita they become removed and then yajna shishta amrita bhujo that the amrita that is the remnants of yajna so now normally if a person is doing the yajna of say fasting at that time there will not be any amrita that is coming you may say okay at the end of the fast in the parvana time whatever we use the food that we use for breaking the fast that taste like nirtha that's fine but that is not exactly like the amrita that is emerging from the yajna or when we give when we give the charity some people may say oh when I give charity the smile on the face of the recipient of charity that is what gives me great satisfaction somebody may say that is like nectar for me but these are not the gross thing that Krishna is talking about I'm not saying gross in a negative sense over here certainly to try to grab to grab things from others and to have a bestial smile on one's own bestial laugh on one's own face that is definitely far more lower than to offer something to other and see the smile in that person's face so definitely the first in ignorance where the first second goodness from the material point of view definitely it's elevated but the important thing to recognize is that we all ultimately need to transcend and the purpose of yajna is to help us attain that transcendental reality so attaining the transcendental reality means that the so the various different kinds of yajna that have been talked over here they do not necessarily give some physical object to be released although sometimes they may give and that can also be one result but the important result Krishna is talking about here is the inner purification that happens yajna kshapita kalmasahana because of that yajna shishta amritabhujo, yajna shishta is the remnants of the sacrifice that what are the remnants the sacrifice has come and gone we say do a particular sacrifice but after the sacrifice the remnants are that through the process of sacrifice our consciousness has become directed upwards towards some higher reality ultimately towards Krishna and this purification redirection of our consciousness that is what takes us ultimately towards Krishna towards the highest reality yamanti brahma sanatanam we move towards the sanatana towards the eternal spiritual reality so in this way the performance of the various kinds of yajna elevates us towards the ultimate liberation that comes from the from the purification that comes by the performance of yajna.