Yajna way of life

As we discussed, guru Drona's motivation to teach was to quench his revenge, hence his life did not become a yajna. Maharishi Vyasa was in contrast to this. He also lived in the same time frame; he too conducted gurukulas, but it was driven by detachment, done with duty sense and with a noble intention to protect Vedas. He surveyed the entire country, collected more than 1000 shakas of Vedas which had blossomed in family tradition (vamsha prampara). He protected them, organized them and handed over to the next generation. He lived his life in a yajna way.

Kunti did yajna as a mother, brought up 5 children like five gems. When Pandu was away, she had to take care of the family, her sister Madri did sahagamana with Pandu after which she took over the responsibility of upbringing Madri's children Nakula and Sahadeva as well, along with her three children. It never was 3+2 for her, it was always 5 children for her. In-spite of all the terrorist activities of kauravas fueled by negligent Drutarashtra and Gandhari and by kutantras of Shakuni, she groomed her children. She performed her duty as a mother, a true role model for matru yajna.

Post Kurukshetra war, padavas took over the reins of kingdom, Yudishtira became the king, it was his wish to bestow Rajamata title and all the due respects on their mother kunti. He approached and requested her to accept the respect of Rajamata and guide him in administration. To his surprise, she refused to accept. Kunti said, having lost all their children, old parents Drutarashtra and Gandhari were in deep grief. On top of it, they were preparing to go to vanavasa as per the tradition. How can such old and blind couple survive on their own in the forest? As a sister of Gandhari, it's her duty to take care of them. Hence she decided to go along with them to forest rejecting all the privileges offered to her.

Having failed to convince his mother, King Yudishtira requests her to at least give some guiding principles for his administration. Advice given by Kunti at this moment demonstrates the highest peak of mentoring by any mother in the history of mankind. She said;

धर्मे ते धीयतां बुद्धिः। मनस्ते महदस्तु च॥

Dharme te dhīyatāṁ buddiḥ | Manaste mahadastu ca ||

Let your intellect be rooted in dharma (spirituality) and mind in magnanimity.

When buddhi is rooted in dharma (spirituality), mind automatically becomes magnanimous, generous, all encompassing, this will join hearts of the people and gradually raga, dwesha will subside and all the wounds of Kurukshetra war will be healed. Having conveyed this message, she went on to vanavasa (exile). Till her last days, Kunti took care of Gandhari and Drutarashtra as if they were her children.

With this as the guiding principle, Yudishtira ruled for 36 years. During his administration, he did not have any opposition to his rule. This, he could achieve because of the formula given by Kunti.

To summarize,

* Kunti -> A role model for any mother, who performed matru Yajna

* Vyasa -> A guru who lived his life in a Yajna way

What is Yajna?

Our journey is going on in the third chapter with special reference to karma yoga. For karma yoga, the main master key word is yajna. Without yajna if we go for karma, it becomes monotonous bulls work, run of the mill actions. Then what is this yajna, the main ingredient of karma yoga?

Today there is common misconception that yajna means fire sacrifice and creating of fumes. There is one variety of fumes which people use to relieve Divas and Bhutas in Srirangapattana. Another variety used by Purohits and Jyotishis in cities like Bangalore.  Is this what the yajna is, then what is yajna?

Yajna can be understood with the help of three words;

•          Mukta sangaha,
•          Vigata jwaraha,
•          Lokasangraha.

Simple formula is;

Yajna = Mukta sangha + Vigata Jwara + Lokasangraha

If we know these three keywords, we can understand how this concept of yajna is embedded in karma yoga.

Mukta sangha (मुक्तसङ्गः Muktasaṅgaḥ)

यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः।

तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर॥गीत ३-९॥

Mukta sangha means actions performed without attachment. In the normal course of actions, we join unnecessary egoism, hateredness and selfish desire to grab all the fruits of actions. There will be overwhelming joy, if there is success, deep sorrow and depression if there is failure. Today's TV reality shows, music competitions etc. are very good examples of these extreme emotions. Such attached actions with egoism and selfishness and without emotional equilibrium becomes binding and deteriorating.

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदा चन।

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥गीत २-४७॥

योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनंजय।

सिध्यसिध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते॥गीत २-४८॥

तस्मादसक्तः सततं कर्यं कर्म समाचर।

असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः॥गीत ३-१९॥

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Vigata Jwara (विगतज्वरः Vigatajvaraḥ)

मयि सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्याध्यात्मचेतसा।

निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युद्यस्व विगतज्वरः॥गीत ३-३०॥

Vigata Jwara means work done in a duty sense. If an action is done in duty sense without Jwara (extreme passion or whining), then karma won't be binding.

Today's trend is to attach Vega speed to all our actions. This speed results in Chinta + Krodha + Bhaya which leads to Jwara and Jwara further leads to psychosomatic diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension etc. The driving mechanism behind psychosomatic diseases is this mano vega, speed of mind.

सक्नोतिहैव यः सोढुं प्राक्शरीरविमोक्षणात्।

कामक्रोधोद्भवं वेगं स युक्तः स सुखी नरः॥गीत ५-५३॥

In this state of Jwara, we expect to get all the results immediately. Will the mango grow in winter just because you have planted it and want results immediately?

Rrutu ave phala hoive...

Nature drives flower blossoming, fruits ripening, not because somebody is in a hurry. Our actions against this natural cycle like growing of unseasonal fruits and vegetables, artificial ripening of fruits using chemicals etc. are causing dreaded diseases like cancer. Then what is the solution, how to act without getting this Jwara?

Performing one's own actions in a duty sense is the solution. Every one of us in our society has a duty.

•          Doctors have to treat patients,

•          Mothers have to accept responsibilities of upbringing progeny and creating future good citizens,

•          Fathers have to accept responsibilities of taking care of the family,

•          Guru has to perform his duty of teaching and showing the right path.

If guru deviates from this path, it will be a catastrophe. Drona is one such example. Drona driven by hatred to teach a lesson to his classmate Drupada was in search of eligible rajakumaras who could fulfill his revenge. Then he found 105 rajakumaras of pandavas and kauvaravas, with Bhishma's approval, he started teaching the skill of warfare. After their studies when the time came for departure, he asked Arjuna to capture Drupada (a brave warrior) alive and tie him to his chair, and this act would be his Gurudakshina. Drona's, action driven by revenge and passion, compromised his duty of a guru. Drutarashtra, the father of Kauravas feel trap to putra vyamoha, blind attachment towards children and compromised his duty. Mother Gandhari, driven by wrong understanding of pativrata dharma fell trap to attachment and did not perform higher duty of motherly hood.

•          A mother who did not do Yajna    -> Gandhari
•          A father who did not do Yajna      -> Drutarashtra
•          A guru who did not do Yajna        -> Drona

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