Yog of Knowledge and Action
Chapter 4, Verse 25
daivam-evāpare yajñāṁ
yoginaḥ paryupāsate
brahmāgnāv-apare yajñāṁ
yajñenaivopa-juhvati
Some yogis resort only to sacrificing to the gods. Others offer sacrifice into the fire of Brahman solely by means of sacrifice.
“Others offer sacrifice into the fire of Brahman solely by means of sacrifice.” The sacrifice itself is Brahman. If one has the knowledge that one’s duty is to free oneself from attachments and desires for the fruit of action, and that one’s only aim is God-Realisation, is to receive a vision of the Lord, then one will attain the supreme state.
“Some yogis resort only to sacrificing to the gods.” Here again, Lord Krishna is referring not to God, but to the demigods, the devas, the entities of nature. He says that some people always pray to gain material things. They are constantly doing rituals, and offering sacrifices, but their minds, due to ignorance, are focused on personal gratification. They are far from Realisation because their minds dwell so much on the outside world, they will never find God within. They think that it would be a sin to consider that God is sitting in their hearts. They don’t realise the omnipresence of God. These people, these yogis, these priests, even if they are doing the sacrifices wholeheartedly, their aim is wrong and due to that, they are in ignorance. But the ones who do sacrifices, practice bhakti and serve the Lord, contemplating the Truth, their soul attains the Supersoul, Narayana Himself, and they will never be born again. The ones whose minds are focused on Narayana will never be born again in this world of duality. They will perceive even the formless God, the absolute divine aspect, the true bliss. They will perceive that they are not separate from this Reality and that everything is interconnected together, in the One, in the Supreme cosmic Being.
Bhagavad Gita
