The significance of Brahma Yagna over the other yagnas
and our unique relationship with the Supreme Personality
Pancha Maha Yagnam is mandatory for all the human beings
particularly the (Grihasthas) householders and people in other stages of life
i.e. brahmacharya, vanaprastha and sanyasa are all exceptions in performing
those activities, since they depend on the Grihasthas for its successful
completion.
The pancha maha yagnam are as follows:
Deva yagnam, Pithru yagnam, bootha yagnam, manushaya
yagnam and brahma yagnam
In our tradition, Brahma
yagnam is considered to be of the primary importance, so that our relationship
with the Supreme God is firmly established.
People might have
various relationships with their kith and kin and other external relationships might
occur owing to our profession, and the society in general, which is perhaps due
to the cause and effect/karmic theory, which may be known as Karana Karya.(i.e
supreme cause behind each and every activity of all living beings). On the
other hand, our relationship with the God occupies the foremost place, since it
has been with Him from our various birth cycles.
He is the Supreme
Soul of all the demigods and other living creatures in all spheres of life,
either it be in this universe/multiverse or spiritual and material realms. As
such we owe our utmost loyalty towards Him, since He is the creator who is immortal
and eternal and we are the created mortal transient ones. Since the Supreme
God’s presence is felt everywhere, it is obligatory on our part to partake the
food prepared by us daily only after offering it to the God. It is only then
the negative forces or the doshams inflicted on all the food stuffs would be
rid of completely and it also serves as a thanks giving and the food stuffs
would become more delicious. On the other hand, people who are starving for
want of food, shall be saved by God in some way or the other, as it becomes
Hari Prasadam.
A small incident
in this context would suffice it to say that Krishna responds to his sincere
devotees who pin absolute and undaunted faith in Him. Once Duryodhana, the
prince of Hastinapura, requested sage Durvasa to visit the Pandavas (his
cousins) while they were on exile. As
per Duryodhana’s request, sage Durvasa along with his disciples, went to the
hermitage of Pandavas and asked them to prepare a wholesome meal for the entire
retinue, soon after their return from their oblations. But Draupadi the queen
of Pandavas was worried at the sudden arrival of sage durvasa, since the
Akshaya Vessel which gives them food, usually gets exhausted and dried up, once
all the family members finish their meals for that particular day. Confused
about the situation, Draupadi sought Lord Krishna’s help mentally to which
Krishna readily responded and asked Draupadi to fetch the Akshaya vessel before
him, as he was very hungry. Soon after Lord Krishna with much difficulty, traced a single cooked grain from the Akshaya
vessel and ate it with the intention that Sage Durvasa and his entire retinue
should be freed from hunger altogether on that particular day and thus saved
Pandavas and draupadi from the devastating effects of the curse of sage Durvasa.
It is beyond human
comprehension to describe the form of God in ordinary words, as no human being
on this plane or other planes of existence, have exactly perceived him as he
pervades in the spiritual realm. On the other hand if a person happens to
perceive Him, he will immediately attain moksha and as such even then, he will
not be in a position to convey us the message as how his perception about The
Absolute Reality was.
In order to
cultivate bhakthi in all human beings, The Sastras have allowed people to
worship God in the archai (idol) form both at home and even in the temples. On
the other hand, the One God can be worshipped in various forms as he is easily
accessible to all his devotees, so that their mind gets focused while praying
or meditating on their ishta devata. (favourite God).
The next step is
to cultivate the habitual reading of any one of the scriptures like The
Mahabharata, The Ramayana and The Bhagwad Gita, so that our minds get purified
and whereby we can become Sattvic people.
God is the Supreme
cause of all causes and He is the ultimate cause for the entire creation and
dissolution of each and every universe. In each universe, there are fourteen worlds,
The 7 Vyarthis
1. Satya-loka: Brahma’s loka. Satya-loka planetary
system is not eternal. Abode of Truth or of Brahma, where atman are released
from the necessity of rebirth.
2. Tapa-loka: Abode of tapas or of other deities.
Ayohnija devadas live here.
3. Jana-loka: Abode of the sons of God Brahma.
4. Mahar-loka: The abode of great sages and
enlightened beings like Markendeya and other rishies.
5. Svar-loka: Region between the sun and polar
star, the heaven of the god Indra. Indra, devatas, Rishies, Gandharvas and
Apsaras live here: a heavenly paradise of pleasure, where all the 330 million
Hindu gods (Deva) reside along with the king of gods, Indra.
6. Bhuvar-loka (aka Pitri Loka): Sun, planets,
stars. Space between earth and the sun, inhabited by semi-divine beings. It is
a real region, the atmosphere, the life-force.
7 Bhur-loka: The Vishnu Purana says that the earth
is merely one of thousands of billions of inhabited worlds like itself to be
found in the universe.
The 7 Patalas :-
1. Atala-loka: Atala is ruled by Bala – a son of
Maya – who possesses mystical powers. By one yawn, Bala created three types of
women – svairiṇīs , who like to marry men from their
own group; kāmiṇīs, who marry men from any group, and the puḿścalīs.
2. Vitala-loka: Vitala is ruled by the god Hara-Bhava
– a form of Shiva, who dwells with attendant ganas including ghosts and
goblins as the master of gold mines. The residents of this realm are adorned
with gold from this region.
3. Sutala-loka: Sutala is the kingdom of the pious
demon king Bali.
4. Talatala-loka: Talātala is the realm of the demon-architect Maya, who is well-versed in
sorcery. Shiva, as Tripurantaka, destroyed the three cities of Maya but was
later pleased with Maya and gave him this realm and promised to protect him.
5. Mahatala-loka: Mahātala is the abode of many-hooded Nagas (serpents) – the sons of Kadru, headed by the Krodhavasha (Irascible) band of
Kuhaka, Taksshaka, Kaliya and Sushena. They live
6. Rasatala-loka: Rasātala is the home of the demons – Danavas and Daityas, who are mighty but cruel. They are the eternal foes
of Devas (the gods). They live in holes like serpents.
7. Patala-loka: The lowest realm is called Patala
or Nagaloka, the region of the Nagas, ruled by Vasuki. Here live several Nagas
with many hoods. Each of their hood is decorated by a jewel, whose light
illuminates this realm.
According to Padma Purana, there are 8,400,000 different
life form species on this planet earth. He pervades the entire universe and
multiverse and as such it cannot be said that there is a place where God’s energy
cannot penetrate or pervade through. His presence can be felt not only in all
the five elements and other natural surroundings, but He is the entire cosmos
itself, which means He is infinite and he is beyond cause, time and effect, and
an embodiment of all sattvic gunas and His body is composed of all the four
vedas and Upanishads; whereas we are bound by all these three factors;
time,cause and effect limitations. We are made up of the five elements of nature.
If each and every individual practices sama darshanam (equal vision)
everywhere, he will be able to cross the samasaric ocean with greatest ease with
the help of God, if he is indifferent to all the dualities of life. In other
words he can be a good example of stithapragnan (Man with equipoise).
In the eleventh chapter of Bhagwad gita, it has been
portrayed in Viswarupa varnanam that God has got innumerable faces and
as such whatever we see in this world are but only his manifestations and as
such Aham Brahmasmi , I the seer, I am Brahman(God)tat vam asi are all inter
related aspects to the subject Brahman/Para Brahman which is the Ultimate
Reality and as such Spiritual Upliftment and the realisation of Absolute
Brahman alone should be the ultimate and main goal of every human entity,
considering other finite things as ephemeral.
