#brahmayajna

If you search for the definition of a yogi online, you’ll encounter various interpretations. Some describe a yogi as a practitioner of yoga and meditation, activities that help improve health. Others suggest that a true yogi is someone who lives free from the metaphorical coffins people build around themselves, exploring possibilities beyond the body. Some believe a yogi is one who remains unattached to both material possessions and actions. There are also those who say a yogi is someone who understands the profound union of all that exists.

Our Elders have said that when one acts without this complete knowledge, such efforts are considered equivalent to thusha:vagha:tham. What does this mean?  

In the past, people used a pounding process to separate the husk from rice. This was done to obtain the edible rice grain, a primary source of nutrition. 

A yogi understands that they are an individual soul given the opportunity to use the body in service to God’s purpose. They know that the body’s purpose is to liberate oneself from the clutches of karma and live life in humble submission to the ultimate power, God. A yogi recognizes that everything in existence is made up of three realities: prakruthi (nature), ji:va:thma (soul), and parama:thma (Bhagava:na, God). 

How does he do it?  

A true yogi uses their senses as tools, like the suk and sruv (spoons used in homa). The actions performed are like the ghee used as an offering. Lord Vishnu is the homa kunda (sacred fire), where the offering is made. 

Sometimes, we all experience emotions and outcomes that we didn’t anticipate. When this happens, we often look back to understand the cause. While we may make sense of some experiences, others remain a mystery. The most profound mystery is this: we don’t know why we are born into a specific body, gender, family, or with a particular level of intelligence. Were any of these in our control? No. And many other outcomes are beyond our control as well. Most of these seem predetermined and vedic literature refers to them as karma. 

Isn’t life a bit dull when everything seems pre-determined? 

Not really. Life becomes exciting when we understand its deeper purpose. By aligning our actions with this purpose and streamlining our efforts toward it, we can prevent the mismatch between expectations and outcomes. Life can become more peaceful if we choose to walk this path. If we don’t, we’ll continue adding to the weight of our karmic records, which will only drive the outcomes in our lives. This makes life more chaotic, instead of liberating us from it. 

Can we access these records and destroy them? 

Where are they stored, and who keeps them? Is it a hard disk, google drive, cloud server kind of technology? 

It is said that Chithragupth stores the records of our actions in a special and unique ‘database’—the human body itself. Before the body disintegrates, these records are encapsulated into the sukshma sarira, or the micro-body, which the soul always carries with it through every birth. This micro-body has certain storehouses, such as the senses, manas (mind), and buddhi (intellect), where karma is stored. However, access to these storehouses is restricted and is permitted only for God. 

Can you share more details on that path, so we don’t get trapped in karma? 

The path is Yajna! Yajna isn’t only a ritual performed by priests with sacred fire and offerings. Every activity in our daily life can be transformed into a yajna when we submit the outcomes of each activity to the divine—God. When we recognize that it is God who gives us the opportunities to perform these activities, we align ourselves with a higher purpose. This is how we can love our lives and make them productive toward the ultimate cause, by the grace of God. In doing so, our karmic records are naturally destroyed—without making their destruction the goal. 

How do I perform this yajna? 

Brahma Yajna is the yajna performed as an offering to the supreme power, Bramha—Lord Srimannarayana. Let’s delve deeper into the significance of this yajna and apply that understanding in our daily lives. 

By doing so, we need not enter the cycle of srusti-pralaya (creation and dissolution), which God repeats to give us opportunities to transcend karma and enjoy liberation, ultimately experiencing eternal bliss. When one surrenders to the supreme and leads life as a Yajna under the guidance of a guru, one need not worry about the records in the register maintained by Chithragupth.