THE MEANING OF SACRIFICE
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*SUTRA*
IF YOU TAKE MORE KARMIC LOAD NOW, WHEN
YOU ARE WELL AND CAPABLE, LATER YOU WILL "HANDS-FREE"!
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THE TERM KARMA YOGA IS OFTEN SEEN AS CLOSELY LINKED WITH SACRIFICE. IN EVERY SPIRITUAL TRADITION IN THE WORLD, THE NOTION OF SACRIFICE HAS BEEN AS SIGNIFICANT.
IN SANSKRIT THE WORD YAGNA IS OFTEN TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH AS "SACRIFICE". BUT YAGNA USUALLY REFERS, IN PRACTICE, TO CERTAIN OBLATIONS AND RITUALS THAT WERE PRACTICED IN ANCIENT INDIA TO APPEASE A DEITY TO PLACATE SOME FORCES TO NATURE. HOWEVER, THESE RITUALS WERE NOT A SACRIFICE IN THE TRUE SENSE OF THE WORD. GIVING UP SOMETHING FOR SOMETHING ELSE IS COMMERSE, GIVING UP SOMETHING FOR NOTHING IS SACRIFICE.
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THE TRADITIONAL YAGNA ITS OWN TECHNOLOGY AND INTERNAL LOGIC. IT WAS PROCESS THROUGH WHICH YOU FOUND ACCESS TO CERTAIN FORCES OR DEITIES AND SOUGHT TO ENHANCE YOUR CAPABILITIES. THESE PROCESSESS ARE STILL PRACTICED TODAY IN MANY PART OF INDIA. THEY CAN HELP CREATE SEVERAL HEALTH AND MATERIAL BENEFITS.
HOWEVER, ONCE YOU ARE ON A SPIRITUAL PATH, YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SMALL PROCESSESS, MINOR TECHNOLOGIES, PETTY RITUALS. THE VERY WAY YOU LIVE BECOMES A YAGNA. THIS IS THE DEEPEST MEANING OF SACRIFICE. YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN INVITING AN EXPERT TO PERFORM RITUALS TO ENABLE YOU TO MANIPULATE CERTAIN FORCES. YOUR VERY LIFE PROCESS IS AN OFFERING.
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IF EVEN A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION BECOMES MEDITATIVE, MANY REAP THE BENEFITS. A SINGLE MANGO TREE CAN OFFER FRUIT TO A HUNDRED PEOPLE. SIMILARLY, WHEN YOUR LIFE BECOMES A YAGNA, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE CAN REAP ITS BENEFITS. MANY INDIVIDUALS HAVE DONE THIS DOWN THE ANGES.
AT ISHA, THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF VOLUNTEERS AND PRACTITIONERS WHO HAVE OFFERED THEIR ENTIRE LIVES TO A SPIRITUAL PATH WITH COMITMENT AND UNWAVERING FOCUS. WHEREVER THEY GO, THEY TRASFORM THE PLACE, IN THEIR OWN SMALL WAY, INTO A YAGNA BHOOMI - ALAND OF SACRIFICE.
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DO NOT THINK OF SACRIFICE AS CHEERLESS SELF-DENIAL. WHEN ONE'S ENTIRE LIFE BECOMES AN OFFERING, IT BRINGS ITS OWN UNIQUE JOY. THERE IS A STORY ABOUT AN INDIAN ASCETIC WHO WENT TO THE UNITED STATES IN THE LAST CENTURY. SOMEONE HE MET THERE DISMISSIVELY COMMENTED, "AS AN ASCENTIC, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LIFE, YOU HAVE NOT TASTED WINE OR SLEPT WITH A WOMAN. WHAT CAN YOU KNOW OF LIFE'S EXPERIENCES?
THE ASCENTIC CALMLY REPLIED, " I COME FROM A LAND OF SACRIFICE. AND I KNOW THE BLISS OF SACRIFICE FAR EXCEEDS THE PLEASURES OF THE WORLD. I AM NOT AFRAID OF YOUR PLEASURES, AND I AM NOT DENYING OR DENOUNCING THEM. BUT ONCE YOU TASTE A DEEPER JOY, THESE BECOME CHILDISH TOYS, MERE SOPS, MINOR DISTRACTIONS".
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THIS APPROACH WAS AT ONE TIME DEEPLY INGRAINED IN THE INDIAN FAMILY. IT WAS NOT PERPETUATED AS A TEACHING, BUT AS AN EVERYDAY PRACTICE. IT WAS PART OF THE SPIRITUAL CULTURE. IN A HOST OF DIFFERENT WAYS, A CHILD GREW UP OBSERVING THAT THE MORE DEEPLY FULFILLING LIFE WAS ABOUT GIVING, NOT TAKING , ABOUT SERVING NOT RULING.
MY MOTHER, LIKE SO MANY OTHER MOTHERS, WAS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THIS. SHE NEVER HAD TO SAY TO US "I LOVE YOU", BECAUSE IT WAS SO APPARENT IN EVERYTHING SHE DID. EVERY MORNING, AFTER ENSURING THAT HER FAMILY HAD EATEN, SHE WOULD TAKE A PART OF HER BREAKFAST AND GO TO THE BACKYARD. HERE SHE WOULD FEED THE ANTS THAT LIVED THERE. SHE WOULD NEVER EAT WITHOUT FEEDING THEM. TODAY, MODERN FAMILIES WOULD BE SPRAYING THE BACKYARD WITH PESTICIDE! BUT WITHOUT ANY SELF-CONSCIOUS ECOLOGICAL MISSION, IT WAS CLEAR TO MY MOTHER THAT THE ANTS HAD AS MUCH RIGHT TO THIS PLANET AS SHE HAD. EVERY LITTLE ACTION IN HER LIFE HAD BECOME A YAGNA.
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FOR PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BECOME LIKE THIS, THERE IS NO NEED TO PERFORM ANY RITUAL. THEIR LIVES HAVE BECOME AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE - NOT LOVE AS "I LOVE YOU" AND "YOU LOVE ME", BUT AS A BASIC AMBIENCE OF THEIR INTERIORITY . NOW THEIR LIVES ARE ONE CEASELESS FLOW OF KARMA YOGA, AN ENDLESS OUTPOURING OF THEIR INNER JOY. NO MORE IS NEEDED.
