yajna (offeing sacrifices)

 
Imported quote 12903
A sacrifice is a ceremony performed to please the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Second Chapter, it is stated that everyone should try to understand whether the Supreme Personality of Godhead is satisfied by his activity. In other words, the aim of our activities should be to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Just as in an office it is the duty of the worker to see that the proprietor or the master is satisfied, so everyone's duty is to see whether the Supreme Personality of Godhead is satisfied by one's activity. Activities to satisfy the Supreme Godhead are prescribed in the Vedic literature, and execution of such activities is called yajna. In other words, acting on behalf of the Supreme Lord is called yajna. One should know very well that any activity besides yajna is the cause of material bondage. That is explained in Bhagavad-gita, Third Chapter, ninth verse: yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra loko 'yam karma-bandhanaḥ. Karma-bandhanaḥ means that if we do not work for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord, Visnu, then the reaction of our work will bind us. One should not work for his own sense gratification. Everyone should work for the satisfaction of God. That is called yajna.    (More...)
Imported quote 12913
In Bhagavad-gita it is clearly said that yajna should be performed for Lord Visnu. Lord Visnu has one thousand popular, transcendental names, out of which one name is Yajna. It is clearly said that everything should be done for the satisfaction of Yajna or Visnu. All other actions which a person may take are only causes for his bondage. Everyone has to perform yajna according to the Vedic hymns. As stated in the Veda Upanisad, fire, the altar, the auspicious full moon, the period of four months called Caturmasya, the sacrificial animal and the beverage called soma are necessary requisites, as are the specific hymns mentioned in the Vedas and composed of four letters. One hymn is as follows: asravayeti catur-aksaram astu srausaḍ iti catur-aksaram yajeti dvabhyam ye yajamahaḥ. These mantras, chanted according to the sruti and smrti literatures, are only to please Lord Visnu. For the deliverance of those who are materially conditioned and attached to material enjoyment, performing yajna and following the rules and regulations of the four divisions of society and of spiritual life are recommended. It is said in the Visnu Purana that by offering sacrifice to Visnu one can gradually be liberated. The whole target of life, therefore, is to please Lord Visnu. That is yajna. Any person who is in Krsna consciousness has dedicated his life for the satisfaction of Krsna, the origin of all Visnu forms, and by offering worship and prasadam daily, he becomes the best performer of yajna. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam it is clearly stated that in this age of Kali the only successful performance of yajna or sacrifice is yajnaiḥ sahkirtana-prayaiḥ; the best type of sacrifice is simply to chant Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. This yajna is performed before the form of Lord Caitanya, as other yajnas are performed before the form of Lord Visnu. These recommendations are found in the Eleventh Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. Moreover, this yajna performance confirms that Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Visnu Himself. As Lord Visnu appeared at the Daksa yajna long, long ago, Lord Caitanya has appeared in this age to accept our sahkirtana-yajna.    (More...)
Imported quote 13567
For material prosperity there are recommendations in the Vedas for various types of yajna (sacrifice). In Bhagavad-gita (3.10) it is confirmed that Lord Brahma created all living entities, including human beings and demigods, and advised them to perform yajna according to their material desires (saha-yajnaḥ prajaḥ srstva). These performances are called yajnas because their ultimate goal is to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu. The purpose of performing yajnas is to get material benefit, but because the aim is to simultaneously satisfy the Supreme Lord, such yajnas have been recommended in the Vedas. Such performances are, of course, known as karma-kanḍa or material activities, and all material activities are certainly contaminated by the three modes of material nature. Generally the karma-kanḍa ritualistic ceremonies are performed in the mode of passion, yet the conditioned souls, both human beings and demigods, are obliged to perform these yajnas because without them one cannot be happy at all.    (More...)
Imported quote 16917
So this is yajna, to satisfy Krsna. So if you offer Krsna these things, what He wants, you will satisfy. Yo me bhaktya prayacchati. Bhaktya, with bhakti, Krsna said. So why don't you do this? That is yajna. Everyone can perform yajna at home, because they are eating. Who is there who is not eating? Everyone is eating. But if you prepare within these items, patram puspam phalam toyam, and prepare nice varieties of foodstuff and offer to Krsna, that is yajna. That is yajna. And yajna-sistasinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbisaiḥ [Bg 3.13].    (More...)
So in this age, in Kali-yuga, it is very difficult to perform other yajna. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Krsna, has appeared to accept your yajna, to deliver you, and the yajna process is very easy: yajnaiḥ sahkirtanaiḥ. That's all. Simply perform. Wherever you live, at home or outside home, just keep a picture of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and chant Hare Krsna mantra before Him. Then your life will be successful.    (More...)
The yajna system is planned in such a way that sensory conscious persons may satisfy their desires without becoming entangled in the reaction of sense-gratificatory work.
My dear Arjuna, a man who does not follow this prescribed Vedic system of sacrifice certainly leads a life of sin, for a person delighting only in the senses lives in vain.    (More...)
Nalinikanta: "The mammonist philosophy, 'Work very hard and enjoy sense gratification,' is condemned herein by the Lord. Therefore for those who want to enjoy this material world, the above-mentioned cycle of performing yajnas is absolutely necessary. One who does not follow such regulations is living a very risky life, being condemned more and more. By nature's law, this human form of life is specifically meant for self-realization, in either of the three ways, namely karma-yoga, jnana-yoga or bhakti-yoga. There is no necessity of rigidly following the performances of prescribed yajnas for the transcendentalists, who are above vice and virtue; but those who are engaged in sense gratification require purification by the above-mentioned cycle of yajna performances. There are different kinds of activities. Those who are not Krsna conscious are certainly engaged in sensory consciousness; therefore they need to execute pious work. The yajna system is planned in such a way that sensory conscious persons may satisfy their desires without becoming entangled in the reaction of sense-gratificatory work. The prosperity of the world depends not on our own efforts but on the background arrangement of the Supreme Lord, directly carried out by the demigods. Therefore, the yajnas are directly aimed at the particular demigod mentioned in the Vedas. Indirectly, it is the practice of Krsna consciousness, because when one masters the performance of yajnas, one is sure to become Krsna conscious. But if by performing yajnas one does not become Krsna conscious, such principles are counted as only moral codes. One should not, therefore, limit his progress only to the point of moral codes, but should transcend them to attain Krsna consciousness."    (More...)

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