Dear All,
We shall continue with our contemplation on "Yagna" or " Sacrifice".
Another dimension of Sacrifice
When we were created by God, He created us
together with an impulsion to sacrifice. Sacrifice means the cooperation that
has to come from us in respect of other beings in the world.
Prajapati, the Creator, appears to have
created individuals with an injunction that they will survive only by
sacrifice. If we are not able to do any kind of sacrifice by way of cooperation
with another, we will not be able to survive; our existence as persons will be
annihilated.
The survival instinct in every individual
also implies the recognition of an equal survival instinct in other people. If
we want to survive, others also want to survive; and if we want to survive in a
qualitatively good manner, others also would like to be equally good
qualitatively.
Hence, we have to be considerate enough in
respect of other beings that whatever be the manner in which our survival
instinct operates, we must have the capacity to appreciate that the survival
instinct operates equally in them. That is, we cannot interfere with the life
of another individual. That is the meaning of cooperation.
Ultimate dimension of “offering”
Let us now see another inspiring dimension of
sacrifice. Here, sacrifice means “offering” and not sacrifice in literal sense.
In a temple, the pujari offers sweets etc. as
offering to God and then partakes the same (besides offering to others.).
In olden days, the Pujari / Priest / Monks used to partake only the prasad that has been offered to God and would fast entire day, if no offering comes for the Lord from devotees on that day.
How beautiful the world would be, if we place
all our actions
In Prasad, we do not make any choice, we
do not give our preferences, we do not say, "we will take only some types
of prasad and will not take the other types". We just take the prasad as a
gift from God and do not judge the taste of the same.
Similarly,
All actions are to be offered to the Supreme Lord as Prasad
and
Results of such actions are to be accepted without preference, without any judgement, without any preferences, as Prasad (received back after we have offered our actions) to the Lord.
With this state of mind, all such actions are
purified, and they do not lead to Bondage!!!
A monk goes a step further and standing at the door of the temple, he prays to God and says, "accept all these human beings coming in as Prasad". What a noble thought, what a prayer!!!
Swami Says,
“One must not offer all types of objects and
all types of actions to the Lord. Before you offer anything to the Lord, you
must first make it pure, you must make it sacred and great. Then it will be a
fit offering for the Lord.
For example, if you want to offer a rose to
the Lord, you first select a beautiful, fragrant bloom. Then you remove the
insects from the flower.
Next you remove the thorns and any imperfect leaves from the stem; and in a number of other ways you make your offering as beautiful and as pure as possible. Only then do you offer it to the Lord.
Every action you perform should be like this flower which you offer to the Lord.
Just as a fine fragrance is inherent in the flower you offer, so also your actions must be saturated with the fragrance of love and sacredness.
Just as the flower that you offer is beautiful and pure (without insects and thorns), so also your actions must be good and pure."
(Source - Sai
Baba Gita)
Love.
