SB 5.7.6 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

सम्प्रचरत्सु नानायागेषु विरचिताङ्गक्रियेष्वपूर्वं यत्तत्क्रियाफलं धर्माख्यं परे ब्रह्मणि यज्ञपुरुषे सर्वदेवतालिङ्गानां मन्त्राणामर्थनियामकतया साक्षात्कर्तरि परदेवतायां भगवति वासुदेव एव भावयमान आत्मनैपुण्यमृदितकषायो हवि:ष्वध्वर्युभिर्गृह्यमाणेषु स यजमानो यज्ञभाजो देवांस्तान् पुरुषावयवेष्वभ्यध्यायत् ॥ ६ ॥

Verse text

sampracaratsu nānā-yāgeṣu viracitāṅga-kriyeṣv apūrvaṁ yat tat kriyā-phalaṁ dharmākhyaṁ pare brahmaṇi yajṣa-puruṣe sarva-devatā-liṅgānāṁ mantrāṇām artha-niyāma-katayā sākṣāt-kartari para-devatāyāṁ bhagavati vāsudeva eva bhāvayamāna ātma-naipuṇya-mṛdita-kaṣāyo haviḥṣv adhvaryubhir gṛhyamāṇeṣu sa yajamāno yajṣa-bhājo devāṁs tān puruṣāvayaveṣv abhyadhyāyat.

Synonyms

sampracaratsu — when beginning to perform ; nānā — yāgeṣu — various kinds of sacrifice ; viracita — aṅga — kriyeṣu — in which the supplementary rites were performed ; apūrvam — remote ; yat — whatever ; tat — that ; kriyā — phalam — the result of such sacrifice ; dharma — ākhyam — by the name of religion ; pare — unto the transcendence ; brahmaṇi — the Supreme Lord ; yajṣa — puruṣe — the enjoyer of all sacrifices ; sarva — devatā — liṅgānām — which manifest all the demigods ; mantrāṇām — of the Vedic hymns ; artha — niyāma — katayā — due to being the controller of the objects ; sākṣāt — kartari — directly the performer ; para — devatāyām — the origin of all demigods ; bhagavati — the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; vāsudeve — unto Kṛṣṇa ; eva — certainly ; bhāvayamānaḥ — always thinking ; ātma — naipuṇya — mṛdita — kaṣāyaḥ — freed from all lust and anger by his expertise in such thinking ; haviḥṣu — the ingredients to be offered in the sacrifice ; adhvaryubhiḥ — when the priests expert in the sacrifices mentioned in the Atharva Veda ; gṛhyamāṇeṣu — taking ; saḥ — Mahārāja Bharata ; yajamānaḥ — the sacrificer ; yajṣa — bhājaḥ — the recipients of the results of sacrifice ; devān — all the demigods ; tān — them ; puruṣa — avayaveṣu — as different parts and limbs of the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda ; abhyadhyāyat — he thought .

Translation

After performing the preliminaries of various sacrifices, Mahārāja Bharata offered the results in the name of religion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva. In other words, he performed all the yajṣas for the satisfaction of Lord Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa. Mahārāja Bharata thought that since the demigods were different parts of Vāsudeva’s body, He controls those who are explained in the Vedic mantras. By thinking in this way, Mahārāja Bharata was freed from all material contamination, such as attachment, lust and greed. When the priests were about to offer the sacrificial ingredients into the fire, Mahārāja Bharata expertly understood how the offering made to different demigods was simply an offering to the different limbs of the Lord. For instance, Indra is the arm of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Sūrya [the sun] is His eye. Thus Mahārāja Bharata considered that the oblations offered to different demigods were actually offered unto the different limbs of Lord Vāsudeva.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In performance of various sacrifices with execution of all parts, Bharata thought of the astonishing result of the sacrifices—dharma-- as an offering to the supreme Brahman, the supreme object of worship, Vāsudeva, the ultimate performer of all actions, the recipient of all sacrifices, since Vāsudeva alone is the controller of all the devatās who are the subject of the mantras which have power to reveal those devatās. Having destroyed all impressions of karma by his skilful actions when having the adhvaryu priests perform rites, Bharata, the sponsor of the sacrifices, meditated on the devatās, the recipients of the sacrifices, as limbs of the Lord. The Lord has said: tāvat karmāṇi kurvīta na nirvidyeta yāvatā mat-kathā-śravaṇādau vā śraddhā yāvan na jāyate One should continue to perform the Vedic ritualistic activities until one actually becomes detached from material sense gratification and develops faith for hearing and chanting about me. SB 11.20.9 How is it that Bharata, a person qualified for pure devotion, with deep faith in topics of the Lord and without material desire, performed karma-yoga and enjoyed its results? This verse explains this. When he performed various sacrifices in which all the elements were executed, there was an astonishing result called dharma. He thought of these results as an offering to the supreme Brahman, Vāsudeva, his deity. He thought, “I do not have any desire for the results of this sacrifice. It is for the pleasure of Vāsudeva. It is offered to Vāsudeva. It is not mine. ” The Mīmāṁsakas believe, however, that the results are for the performer if the desires for results of the performer are prominent or for the devatās where the actions were directed predominately to the devatās. Since Bharata was without material desires, the results should go to the devatās. Why then did Bharata think of offering the results only to Vāsudeva, when there are many devatās like Candra and Sūrya? He thought of Vāsudeva, the enjoyer of results of the sacrifice (yajṣa-puruṣe), as the controller of all devatās who are the goals of the mantras which reveal the devatās (sarva-devatā-liṅgānāṁ). “Bharata may not be the enjoyer, but he cannot avoid being the performer of the sacrifice.” No, Vāsudeva is also the performer since he is the independent doer, inspiring all others to action as the antaryāmī of all beings. The sponsor of the sacrifice, who is not independent, is not the performer. If we do not accept this principle, the priest would be called the performer, since he directly performs the sacrifice. This is understood from the Viṣṇu-sahasra-nāma-stotra. yajṣabhug yajṣa-kṛd yajṣa: Viṣṇu is the enjoyer of sacrifice, the performer of sacrifice and sacrifice itself. Though the Lord is independent, the jīva thinks that he is the performer out of ignorance and becomes bound up. By his skilful thinking (ātma-naipuṇya) Bhārata destroyed the contamination of impressions arising from action (mṛdita-kaṣāyaḥ). It should be understood that though the devotee who is free of identity as the doer and has renounced all results of actions performs action through his representative such as the adhvaryu priest, he is not the doer since he does not have faith in those actions. aśraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapas taptaṁ kṛtaṁ ca yat asad ity ucyate pārtha na ca tat pretya no iha || O son of Pṛthā, whatever is offered in the fire, whatever is given in charity, whatever is undertaken as austerity, but which is done without faith, is called asat since it bears no result now or in the next life. BG 17.28 It is said that devotees such as Ambarīṣa, absorbed in performing pure bhakti all day long, conducted sacrifices handed down by tradition from father and grandfather, through representatives. It is seen at the present time as well that householder devotees well established in the western states, perform the karmas such as marriage or receiving the sacred thread through a representative, since they fear contamination with local customs, and with the total lack of varṇa and dharma. The results do not accrue to the impure person in the verse tāvat karāṇi kurvīta, because the ātmanepada form of the verb is an order. Thus the śuddha-sattva devotee certainly has no fault in doing actions through a representative. In the definition of pure bhakti (anyābhlāśitā-śunyam) indicating that bhakti should be devoid of karma and jṣāna, it is stated jṣāna-karmādy-ānavṛtam. Some people explain that this means that bhakti remains pure, even though one engages in karma by employing an agent to perform sacrifice, because bhakti is not covered by karma if one remains constantly engaged in hearing and other acts of bhakti. “We cannot attribute fault of doing karmas to Bharata if he acts thus. But how can one say that his bhakti is pure if there is worship of many devatās in the sacrifices?” Bharata, the sponsor of the sacrifices, mediated on the devatās, the receivers of the offerings, as the limbs of the Lord. When the priest said “indraya svāhā” he thought, “This is worship of the arm of my Lord.” When the priest said “sūryāya svāha” he though “This is worship of the eye my Lord.” Worshipping each devatā independently would destroy the ananya or exclusive aspect of bhakti, but worshipping them as limbs of the Lord does not destroy it.

Purport

The Supreme Personality of Godhead says that as long as one does not develop the pure devotional service of śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam, hearing and chanting, one must carry out his prescribed duties. Since Bharata Mahārāja was a great devotee, one may ask why he performed so many sacrifices that are actually meant for karmīs. The fact is that he was simply following the orders of Vāsudeva. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, sarva dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja: “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me.” ( Bg. 18.66 ) Whatever we do, we should constantly remember Vāsudeva. People are generally addicted to offering obeisances to various demigods, but Bharata Mahārāja simply wanted to please Lord Vāsudeva. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā: bhoktāraṁ yajṣa-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram ( Bg. 5.29 ). A yajṣa may be carried out to satisfy a particular demigod, but when the yajṣa is offered to the yajṣa-puruṣa, Nārāyaṇa, the demigods are satisfied. The purpose of performing different yajṣas is to satisfy the Supreme Lord. One may perform them in the name of different demigods or directly. If we directly offer oblations to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the demigods are automatically satisfied. If we water the root of a tree, the branches, twigs, fruits and flowers are automatically satisfied. When one offers sacrifices to different demigods, one should remember that the demigods are simply parts of the body of the Supreme. If we worship the hand of a person, we intend to satisfy the person himself. If we massage a person’s legs, we do not really serve the legs but the person who possesses the legs. All the demigods are different parts of the Lord, and if we offer service to them, we actually serve the Lord Himself. Demigod worship is mentioned in Brahma-saṁhitā, but actually the ślokas advocate worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda. For instance, worship of the goddess Durgā is mentioned this way in Brahma-saṁhitā (5.44) : sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi Following the orders of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the goddess Durgā creates, maintains and annihilates. Śrī Kṛṣṇa also confirms this statement in Bhagavad-gītā. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: “This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings.” ( Bg. 9.10 ) We should worship the demigods in that spirit. Because the goddess Durgā satisfies Kṛṣṇa, we should therefore offer respects to Goddess Durgā. Because Lord Śiva is nothing but Kṛṣṇa’s functional body, we should therefore offer respects to Lord Śiva. Similarly, we should offer respects to Brahmā, Agni and Sūrya. There are many offerings to different demigods, and one should always remember that these offerings are usually meant to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bharata Mahārāja did not aspire to receive some benediction from demigods. His aim was to please the Supreme Lord. In the Mahābhārata, among the thousand names of Viṣṇu, it is said yajṣa-bhug yajṣa-kṛd yajṣaḥ. The enjoyer of yajṣa, the performer of yajṣa and yajṣa itself are the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the performer of everything, but out of ignorance the living entity thinks that he is the actor. As long as we think we are the actors, we bring about karma-bandha (bondage to activity). If we act for yajṣa, for Kṛṣṇa, there is no karma-bandha. Yajṣārthāt karmaṇo ’nyatra loko ’yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ: “Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed; otherwise work binds one to this material world.” ( Bg. 3.9 ) Following the instructions of Bharata Mahārāja, we should act not for our personal satisfaction but for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gītā (17.28) it is also stated: aśraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapas taptaṁ kṛtaṁ ca yat asad ity ucyate pārtha na ca tat pretya no iha Sacrifices, austerities and charities performed without faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead are nonpermanent. Regardless of whatever rituals are performed, they are called asat, nonpermanent. They are therefore useless both in this life and the next. Kings like Mahārāja Ambarīṣa and many other rājarṣis who were pure devotees of the Lord simply passed their time in the service of the Supreme Lord. When a pure devotee executes some service through the agency of another person, he should not be criticized, for his activities are meant for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. A devotee may have a priest perform some karma-kāṇḍa, and the priest may not be a pure Vaiṣṇava, but because the devotee wants to please the Supreme Lord, he should not be criticized. The word apūrva is very significant. The resultant actions of karma are called apūrva. When we act piously or impiously, immediate results do not ensue. We therefore wait for the results, which are called apūrva. The results are manifest in the future. Even the smārtas accept this apūrva. Pure devotees simply act for the pleasure of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore the results of their activities are spiritual, or permanent. They are not like those of the karmīs, which are nonpermanent. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (4.23) : gata-saṅgasya muktasya jṣānāvasthita-cetasaḥ yajṣāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate “The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence.” A devotee is always free from material contamination. He is fully situated in knowledge, and therefore his sacrifices are intended for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.