April 8 – Bhagavadgita Chapter 4; Verses 4.25 (Day 99) Karma Yoga

 April 8 – Day 99

Verse 4.25 

दैवमेवापरे यज्ञं योगिनः पर्युपासते ।

ब्रह्माग्नावपरे यज्ञं यज्ञेनैवोपजुह्वति ॥ ४-२५॥ 

daivam evāpare yajñaṁ yoginaḥ paryupāsate
brahmāgnāvapare yajñaṁ yajñenaivopajuhwati (4.25) 

தை³வமேவாப¹ரே யஞ்ஞம் யோகின: ப¹ர்யுபா¹ஸதே¹ |
ப்³ரஹ்மாக்³னாவப¹ரே யஞ்ஞம் யஞ்ஞேனைவோப¹ஜுஹ்வதி¹ ||4.25|| 

25. Some Yogis perform sacrifice to the gods alone, while others (who have realised the Self) offer the Self as sacrifice by the Self in the fire of Brahman alone. 

Commentary: Some Yogis who are devoted to Karma Yoga perform sacrificial rites to the shining ones or Devas (gods).  The second Yajna is Jnana-Yajna or the wisdom sacrifice performed by those who are devoted to Jnana Yoga.  The oblation in this sacrifice is the Self.  Yajna here means the Self.  The Upadhis or the limiting adjuncts such as the physical body, the mind, the intellect, etc., which are superimposed on Brahman through ignorance are sublated and the identity of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul or Brahman is realized. To sacrifice the self in Brahman is to know through direct cognition (Aparoksha Anubhuti) that the individual soul is identical with Brahman.  This is the highest Yagna. Those who are established in Brahman, those who have realized their oneness with the Supreme Soul or Paramatma perform this kind of sacrifice.  This is superior to all other sacrifices. 

Commentary by Swami Venkatesananda:

The highest wisdom is not attained overnight. Man’s consciousness is shadowed by ignorance and superstition, pride and prejudice, false notions and ideologies. It is not given to all to uproot this mighty tree of ignorance with a single axe-stroke of supreme wisdom. The path of the majority lies through gradual evolution and sublimation. This sounds easy; it is not. One has to be eternally vigilant if one is not to slide back or to run round in circles. Eternal vigilance is not different from instant enlightenment!

There are some yogī who ‘sacrifice’ to the gods. They engage themselves in ritualistic worship. When the ritual is performed with right understanding (that the whole universe is God’s self-sacrifice), it transforms one’s whole life into divine life. The yogi’s vision expands to include in his concept of God, his parents, teachers and guests. The ritual widens into charity. The heart is gradually purified, eventually to let the light of God shine unobstructed by the distortion of the ego.

There are others who do not worship the gods, but perform religious rites, for their own sake. Though these rites promise heaven to the performer, he is encouraged to cut out this desire, in order that his action may lead him to the supreme. Hence even the oblations are followed by the formula ‘na mama’ – ‘not mine’ or ‘not for me’. When these sacrifices purify one’s heart the light of God reveals itself.

 Eventually, this yogi offers sacrifice itself as an oblation into the fire of Brahman, the absolute. All activities which were superimposed on Brahman, in ignorance, are offered in the knowledge of the transcendental reality which is the eternal witness of the dynamism of its nature. 

-*-