Posted on: 21 Jul 2023
[Prof. Dr. JSR Prasad asked:- Sāṣṭāṅga praṇāmas Swami. i) One scholar quoted the first sentence of Yajurveda (Iṣe tvo tvorje tvā…), ii) Verse from Gita (Yajñādbhavati parjanyaḥ..) and iii) another verse from Gita (Devān bhāvayatā'nena…) and argued that burning of ghee in the physical fire is correct. Please explain these three authorities in opposing his arguments. - At Your holy lotus feet.]
Swami Replied:- i) ‘Iṣā’ means the knowledge of cooking the food as per the commentary of Vidyaranya. This sentence says about cooking the food on physical fire for the sake of pacifying the hunger of spiritual devotees through best sacrifice (Śreṣṭhatamāya karmaṇe). This does not say that you shall burn the ghee in the fire.
ii) This verse says that cloud is generated from Yajña or sacrifice. We say that when cooked ghee fried food is served to the divine preacher or the Sadguru, cloud is generated. The reason is that the Veda says that all the deities live in the Sadguru (Yāvatīrvai devatāḥ tā ssarvā vedavidi brāhmaṇe vasanti). When He is happy, all the deities also become happy. Among these deities, the Lord of clouds called Indra also exists. The pleased Indra orders the cloud to rain. By that, food is produced. By burning ghee in physical fire, the smoke produced stops rain due to pollution. Cloud is inert and has no miraculous power to go against the rules of nature. If Indra is pleased, he has miraculous powers to control and order the inert cloud to rain. Hence, this is the proper meaning logically.
iii) When you pacify the Sadguru through food, all the deities present in His body become happy. This is the exact meaning of the other verse of the Gita. By burning ghee in physical fire, the deities will have to inhale that smoke and get at once infected. This is not worshipping the deities. Since the deities are furious, they will not help create rains and the result is severe drought.
When the priests chant the hymn of deity Varuna, he is pleased to help with rains. The deity Varuna is pleased with the theoretical devotion of the priests. Moreover, practical devotion also follows here because you are feeding hungry priests. Therefore, the deity Varuna pleased by both theoretical and practical devotion, is responding to bless earth with good rains.