yajna -Worship in Sacrifice

"yajna: (Sanskrit) "Worship; sacrifice." One of the most central Hindu concepts--sacrifice and surrender through acts of worship, inner and outer. 1) A form of ritual worship especially prevalent in Vedic times, in which oblations--ghee, grains, spices and exotic woods--are offered into a fire according to scriptural injunctions while special mantras are chanted. The element fire, Agni, is revered as the divine messenger who carries offerings and prayers to the Gods. The ancient Veda Brahmanas and the Shrauta Shastras describe various types of yajna rites, some so elaborate as to require hundreds of priests, whose powerful chanting resounds for miles. These major yajnas are performed in large, open-air structures called yagashala. Domestic yajnas, prescribed in the Grihya Shastras, are performed in the family compound or courtyard. Yajna requires four components, none of which may be omitted: dravya, sacrificial substances; tyaga, the spirit of sacrificing all to God; devata, the celestial beings who receive the sacrifice; and mantra, the empowering word or chant."

I found it interesting that yajna means both worship AND sacrifice. This is similar to the seminal Christian Rite; The Eucharist, in that it involves ritual "sacrifice." While it is true, one involves only oblations of rich and expensive earthly "substances", when the other involves the reenactment of "human" sacrifice, but as rituals, they are "sacrificial".

One of the four components above is "the spirit of sacrificing all to God." This spirit is essential. Obviously the "thing" being sacrificed (oblations/Jesus Life, ie, sacrificial substances) is there in ritual worship. The empowering words, the mantras, or Eucharistic prayers. The "celestial beings" or the being of Christ, or God. All these "things" are held together in the grip of "the spirit of sacrificing all to God".

This spirit of sacrifice is none other than our True Nature, universal Love. But let's look at the nature of "sacrifice".

Burning some wood, no matter how precious, or ritual sacrifice of bread and wine will not give us the reality of sacrifice we need to understand. Our lives need to be informed by these rituals. The spirit of these rituals must inspire our hearts and hands (our sacrificial substance), the empowering words of "Thy will be done", and the thousands upon thousands of "celestial beings" in the faces of the poor and helpless who are with us always, all moving together in this ritual worship we call life. All held together in "the spirit of sacrificing all to God."

Sacrificing all means real sacrifice. A sacrifice of time. A sacrifice of convenience. A sacrifice of position or popularity.

Perhaps even sacrifice of respect. Those who seek social justice, often lose respect from those in "power". The truth can isolate you from your friends, community, and station in life. Will you sacrifice ALL? To give. To give unselfishly to others, with out need or desire for even recognition, requires being the fulfiller of need, without attachment. In this state you can be overflowing with God's, Love, as you ARE God's Love personified; giving without a trace of want or desire.

Love, through sacrifice, flows through "being", IS Being. When there is flow there is the subject/object. Be the Love. Be the Sacrifice. Complete the circuit with out stretched hands.

Karma, Bhakti and Jnana in Service to Others

Matthew 25:

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

This passage from the King James version of the New Testament speaks of Karma Yoga. It talks not just of helping others, but how the helping is actually worship of the Lord (Christ Consciousness). It also gives us some idea of who we are to help; the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger and prisoner.

The hungry, thirsty and naked are needy, and arouse a degree of sympathy even in the hard hearted; who may give a small token to relieve their own sense of guilt. The stranger and prisoner are less sympathetic to all but the most devoted, who will be able to see them as the Lord, or the One. This does not happen by accident or chance.

This is where Bhakti, or devotion, and Jnana, or knowledge come into play. Only through Love and contemplation can one be able to see the Lord in the poor, the outcast and the troubled. Jnana brings understanding that the world is all One. Bhakti draws on the Lord's own "reserves" to give us strength to carry on in our work.

Jnana, while giving us the understanding of no-separation, will not give us the understanding of what is needed to actually help others. This is the province of Bhakti. Through worship we draw the Lord's strength by BEING it. We become the Love of God when we worship without subject or object; resting only in the Love that we are. This not only gives us the ability to carry on, but takes the "I" out of the equation, making us closer to both the needy, and the Lord, who are, after all, the same.

Without this worship, this Bhakti, this abandonment of our "selves", we will look for thanks, or praise, or the "good feeling" we get from helping others. My Barber has a little sign on his mirror that says: "Every day do something for someone who can never pay you back." This is it. Worship becomes helping. Helping becomes worship. Not for reward, or a better conscience, but to simply be Loving the Lord in the form of the needy, or even the despised.

Give Love without thought of reward, and you become Love; your True Nature!