41 - Living life as Yajna | Swami Tattwamayananda - a podcast by Vedanta Society, San Francisco

-4th chapter: verses 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on June 12, 2020.
-Yajna in Gita refers to any noble activity done with a sense of sanctity and sacredness, for the good of others, without selfish motives, and as an offering to God.
-Yajna as a Vedic ritual involves lighting a fire, chanting mantras, offering auspicious things in the fire as an act of renunciation, for the good of the world and to propitiate the devatas (gods).
-Verse 27: Atma Samyama Yoga refers to bringing self-restraint to the senses of perception, senses of action and the mind, and giving them a higher spiritual orientation. It is an inner yajna, where the yajna fire is kindled through spiritual wisdom that there is divinity in the entire creation, in every activity and thought. We offer all our actions, thoughts, deeds into this yajna fire.
-Atma Samyama Yoga enables us to spiritualize our whole life. Every act, thought, deed is performed as Yajna. Every secular activity becomes spiritualized. We can live in tune with the entire creation, as we are convinced of the divinity in everything.
-Yajna is based on the idea that we cannot live in disharmony with nature and expect harmony within. With Atma Samyama Yoga, we connect with the inherent harmony with nature. Harmony outside brings harmony within.
-With Atma Samyama Yoga, great qualities such as - non-violence, truthfulness, freedom from stealing, moderation, non-possessiveness – naturally come to us.
-28th verse: There are others who sacrifice material things (dravya yajna), who meditate and undertake vows (tapo yajna), who sacrifice through yoga (yoga yajna), and who read scriptures and realize their ideas (jnana yajna). These are all different ways of practicing Yajna.
-First step in practicing Yajna is to develop a higher spiritual ideal in our life, and think beyond immediate, tangible benefits. By practicing yajna, one finds harmony and peace everywhere.
-An ancient verse describes the prayer of a woodcutter to the birds who live on trees, to illustrate harmony with nature. “I am going to cut this tree. I pray to you to move to another tree. I am depriving you of your habitation and for that I seek your mercy”.
-Vedic mantras emphasize harmony and balance of nature. Let the earth, clouds, skies, plants, trees and the entire cosmos remain pure, undisturbed, and in perpetual peace and harmony.
-Another Vedic verse describes the morning prayer of sages: “Let the earth remain in its perfect purity, let the streams and rivers be filled with pure water, let Agni remain in its perfect purity”. Their morning prayer was for the good of creation, and to bring auspiciousness and prosperity to the whole world.
-29th verse: Some perform yajna by controlling their breath (pranayama). Pranayama is helpful in bringing balance to the mind, but it should only be practiced after being grounded in Yamas and Niyamas.
-30th and 31st verse: There are others who practice restraint in eating food. Whatever we do, if we do it as Yajna, without selfish motives – then our whole life becomes spiritualized.
-32nd verse: Through all these karmas done as Yajna, you proceed one step closer towards the realization of the divine within you. All actions done with selfish motives bind us to the world. All actions done as Yajna takes us to moksha (liberation).
-33rd verse: All actions eventually lead to knowledge. A devotee who is grounded in the knowledge that everything is Brahman – he is not easily influenced by external circumstances. However, a devotee who is a beginner or follower of Bhakti, needs to be careful about what he eats and who he associates with.

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