Gita 17.13 Yajna in ignorance expresses defiance externally and internally.mp3

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
thank you Krishna is talking about yajnas in the three modes and here he talks about yajna in the mode of ignorance when one has no consideration of shastra that there is no distribution of food after that that that there is no chanting of mantras there is no charity given and most importantly there is no faith then that is that is yajna in the mode of ignorance if all the essential elements related to the yajna are missing then we may wonder why would one perform the yajna at all sometimes we say that some people there is only the shell and not the substance so people do something just for show so they want to have the name of doing it but they don’t have any concern of doing it properly sometimes say some people say two enemies they meet each other and they shake hands they shake hands so perfunctorily that shaking hands is almost like exchanging fist blows so normally handshake is meant to convey cordiality convey warmth convey physical interaction through touch which is meant to start a relationship relationship on a positive note but when that is not the focus at all people are concerned primarily with just doing what they wish to do arbitrarily without any deeper consideration of what is important and what isn’t then there is this kind of situation where people just get trapped in total externals and even the externals are not done properly so we consider normally a handshake it should be warm, cordial, firm and it should convey internal emotion but when there is neither proper internal emotion nor proper external action there is just the appearance of the action for the sake of some kind of simulation of the action for some kind of show so here Krishna is talking about yajna in a similar way say in a culture people are just expected to do yajna because that is the thing which is important as a social need if somebody is to fit in but then there is neither the internal which is in Lakshmi’s shantha virahitam yajna so the faith that yajna connects us with higher powers in the universe that yajna is a means to pacify and appease those higher powers that first of all higher powers exist which we need to harmonize with in some way or the other all this is shantha virahitam all this is not present when the word shantha virahitam is given and it conveys that people are doing things just for the sake of show shantha virahitam yajna and further what is said is that they are not at all interested in any kind of purification their interest is only in just making the external display so even in the external display at least in the mode of passion people are concerned about looking good in the world’s eyes even if they are not good internally but in the mode of ignorance people are not even concerned about looking good they simply are concerned with doing what they want to do and making sometimes a splash through defiance so here asushtanam there is no distribution of food so normally yajna is a means by which we harmonize with the higher powers of nature and we express that harmonization through certain things so that is at that time mantra should be there properly chanted to satisfy the higher powers and the brahmanas who chant the mantras should be given dakshina and food should be distributed at that time and all this should be done according to shastra so these four things all of them are defied by people in the mode of ignorance there is no there is no concern whether what one is doing is properly according to scripture and there is a letter of scripture and there is a spirit of scripture there are some, in scripture there are central details and there are peripheral details so krishna mentions that three central features of yajna that one should be able to work in a way that enables one to move closer and closer to the absolute through purification through elevation of one’s consciousness yajna shishtamrta bhujo yajna kshapita kalmasaha yajna vidho yajna kshapita kalmasaha yajna shishtamrta bhujo yanti brahma sanatan so those who know the purpose of yajna they become purified yajna kshapita kalmasaha they become purified and they advance towards life’s ultimate destination yajna shishtamrta bhujo by enjoying the remnants of yajna but here in this tamasic yajna because there is no either external adherence or internal adherence it is done in a mood of defiance it just leads to disaster it leads to no good either in this life or in the next life krishna has said earlier naayaṁ loko sthiyagyaśyakuto anyah kurusattama that those who do not perform yajna they do not get good result auspicious result either in this life or the next life and further it is also stated that those who defy yajna or those who do not have faith naayaṁ loko sthiyagyaśyakuto naayaṁ loko sthiyagyaśyakuto he said in 4.40 so in this way actually speaking there is no enduring result, either when there is no auspicious result in this life or next life, if there is no yajna, that is fourth chapter, at the same fourth chapter later says, ten verses later that actually if there is no faith then also there is no happiness in this life or next.
And here Krishna is saying that although yajna may be done for namesake, this is literally for namesake, but there is neither the proper externals nor the proper internals. So then there is no auspicious result at all. And there is only an auspicious result because of one’s internal and external defiance of the purpose and the process of yajna.
So in the mode of ignorance, one is disconnected with both spiritual reality and material reality. One has a fragmented vision of things where one just wants to do what one wants to do based on one’s own tiny perception of things. And that’s how they live in illusion and their actions take them into deeper illusion.
Krishna has said that tamas etania, that actually there are certain activities in the mode of ignorance, increase ignorance. And similarly yajna done in the mode of ignorance doesn’t in any way elevate one to transcendence, but