The Pancha Maha-Yajna (The Five Great Sacrifices) Yajna in its narrow primary sense refers to the ancient Vedic Sacrifices that are now redundant. In its secondary and applied sense it refers to the Five Great Sacrifices which are: pitru-yajña - the sacrifice to the parents and ancestors. deva-yajña - the sacrifice to the gods. brahma-yajña - the sacrifice to the sages. bhuta-yajña - the sacrifice to the animals. manushya-yajña - the sacrifice to human beings. Every person is born with a debt to these five categories of beings and throughout one’s life these debts must be discharged. The two dynamic factors of Yajna are: 1. A sincere feeling of gratitude and 2. the demonstration of that heartfelt gratitude. • The gratitude to our parents is expressed through honouring them, caring for them while they live and making offerings for their well being (sraddha) once they die. • The gratitude to the gods is expressed through the periodic making of offerings. • The gratitude to the sages and preceptors who, renouncing personal interest, dedicated their lives for guiding humankind is expressed through the study of the sacred teachings and passing them on to others or at the very least being cultural informed. • The gratitude to the animals and eco-systems is expressed through feeding birds and other animals and also through active support of environmental issues and ensuring the preservation of the natural habitat. • The gratitude to society without which we could not exist is expressed through ensuring that other members of the society are cared for. In our own lives we can express this through offering hospitality to guests and to strangers. There are three minimal requirements which must be offered to a guest - a seat, water to drink, and kind words. - from the Srivaishnava Handbook srimatham/uploads/5/5/4/9/5549439/srivaishnava_handbook.pdf
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 08:26:27 +0000
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