Gita 17.12 Yajna is like modern technology – can fuel the illusion that we are controllers and enjoyers.mp3

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you tatam yajnam viddhi rajasam so Krishna is describing action in the three modes especially action in terms of the action of performing sacrifice over here he has described anna, aahar earlier and now he is describing yajna after which he has described tapa and then dana so abhisandhaya tuphalam abhisandhaya refers to with attachment bharatam abhichayivayat dambha refers to arrogance ijyate bharatam srishta ijyate one who does the worship one who performs the yajna tatam yajnam viddhi rajasam that is yajna in the mode of passion the mode of passion is primarily defined by the propensity to increase one’s illusions by considering oneself to be the controller if I have done A then the result B must come because I am the controller I am the determiner of the result now the nature of the world is we are the co-causers of the result but we are not the sole determiners of the result our endeavor puts in some effort our endeavor contributes definitely but our endeavor does not decide alone does not decide and that difference is something which needs to be acknowledged analyzed and applied so in the mode of passion one has so much attachment to the external world one has so much of a desire to show oneself as the controller of the world that one misses out on subtler realities even when one accesses subtler powers such as while a person is performing yajna yajna in one sense is like technology the mechanism of how technology works is unknown to most people who operate it when we dial a particular number on our phone how exactly the signals go to that person and how exactly the communication happens is something that we really don’t know but still it happens and we move on with it so from our perspective it is just like magic so from our perspective even yajna which might seem like pre-scientific religious imagination from the perspective of those who are aware that in the cosmos are not just the laws of nature operating but there are conscious agents who are associated with the natural phenomena then yajnas which involve chanting of certain mantras and lighting of certain kinds of fires which lead to the appeasement of certain higher conscious beings leading to particular results that for people with a different world view will not seem like imagination but will be seen as reality so without going to the technicalities of the differences yajna is something which may not be accessible to us now in Kali Yuga but the principle is that we somehow learn to tap the subtler powers of the universe that is what we try to do even through technology now while using technology it is very easy to think that we are the doer when we are driving a car we press the gas accelerator and the car zooms ahead especially if you have cars that have power accelerators it is a little press and the car can zoom faster so similarly for us if we consider the principle of yajna that same way the point that we can think of ourselves as the controller that we can achieve extraordinary things through our capacity to control and we want the results so if we drive fast we expect that we should be able to get to a particular destination so often we get blinded to the reality that beyond our controlling capacity many other factors are involved which determine how things happen, our endeavors do play a role but they alone don’t play they alone don’t determine what is happening apart from that other things also play a role and to the extent we understand this and to the extent we address this to that extent we are in knowledge so the engineering design of the car may get some flaw because of which the car may not move the circumstance may be such that again the results may not come all these factors we may sometimes not consider so for us to consider those factors is vital and to the extent we consider those factors to that extent we progress harmoniously in knowledge so here when yajna is performed there is a sense that I want the result and I and the doer just see how well I am performing the sacrifice see how pious I am, how virtuous I am how cultured I am the whole idea is that one is obsessed with one’s own greatness and that attitude is the attitude that fosters illusion if we do not want to be trapped by illusion then we need to raise our consciousness vertically upwards till we come to the understanding that we are spiritual beings and spiritual knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita helps us to understand this without that yajna which is meant for our harmonious material satisfaction and our spiritual elevation yajna can actually end up becoming just another agent that perpetuates our material illusions and keeps us in spiritual oblivion that is the nature of activities in the mode of passion and even if those activities are the activities which are done by someone in the mode of yajna which is a pious religious activity which is meant to uplift our consciousness if it is done by somebody in the mode of passion then it may not lead to much elevation for that person it may simply lead to that person becoming more deluded more entangled and it will lead ultimately to the entrapment of that person so here Krishna is saying that by analyzing the kind of yajna that a person does the consciousness of the person who does yajna we can understand the level of their shraddha which is the question which Arjuna has asked at the start of this chapter and which Krishna is answering throughout the chapter