Make Life a Yajna – An Offering to the Lord

Make Life a Yajna – An Offering to the Lord

By Pandit Ramdial Balbadar

Because the Lord is so pleased with whatever His devotees offer Him, He says: “Whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation to the sacred fire, whatever you bestow as a gift, whatever you do by way of penance, offer it all to Me.” (Bhagavad Gita 9:27).

By using the five verbs – ‘doing’, ‘eating’, worshipping’, ‘giving’, and ‘practising’,  with the pronoun ‘whatever’ joined to each, the Lord has enumerated in a nutshell all the duties of man. That is to say, the words ‘whatever you do’ cover all kinds of activities for earning a livelihood. And all activities intended to keep the body and soul together, such as taking food and drink, etc., are included in ‘whatever you eat’. And all practices connected with worship are comprised in ‘whatever you offer as oblation’. Similarly, all acts of charity and service are included in ‘whatever you give.’ And all acts of self-restraint and all forms of austere penance are covered by ‘whatever you do as penance’. In the performance of the ordinary acts of life, God is worshipped if we perform them for His sake alone.

We have to eat and drink, work and sleep. We cannot be without them. Why not then, the Lord advises, make the best use of all necessities and make every action an offering to God? Then it will serve a double purpose. We will be fed physically and spiritually as well. Our physical thirst, as also our spiritual thirst will be satisfied.

The highest life that a person can live is a life in which every thought, every act, and every word is dedicated to God. What do we mean by that? Is it possible to live such a life?

We all know that when we love someone intensely, few moments of the day pass by when the beloved one does not live in our consciousness. No matter what we do, no matter how we are occupied, that picture of that person so dear to us is before our mental eye. We live constantly in the presence of such a person, though physically we may be far away. The relationship between the Bhakta and his God is just like that. He cannot help thinking of his beloved Lord. His thoughts go toward Him without any effort; Love draws him there. The bhakta prays: “O Lord! Awaken eternally the consciousness of Your loving presence within me. Teach me to think of You until You become my only thought.” In this way it becomes impossible to do things which we know will displease Him. We cannot think of the One whom we love and then deliberately do an act that we know would greatly grieve Him. That would be an act of grave insincerity and betrayal. And, therefore, this practice of living in the presence of God is such a great help in our daily life as to keep us from what is wrong, and to incite us to noble and virtuous deeds. We cannot then utter unkind words; we cannot cause sorrow to others; we cannot harbor undesirable thoughts; we will do such acts that we know will be pleasing to God.

One person who was proud of his knowledge went to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and asked him whether he knew anything about Transcendental Meditation. Ramakrishna looked at him and answered that he knew nothing about transcendental meditation, but he certainly knew about Dental Meditation. The person said that he had never heard about Dental meditation and wanted to learn about it. So Ramakrishna said that just like a person with a tooth-ache goes about his daily chores but never forgets the tooth-ache, similarly, a person must go about his daily duties never forgetting the presence of the Lord.

This is the practical side of religion. If lived, religion can make us better and be an influence for the better in our surroundings. And as we rise higher in spiritual knowledge, our life will also express higher and nobler ideals. If we come to know God in Spirit and in Truth, our life will be the embodiment of spirituality and truth.

The successful person is he who has tried long and hard. As on the material plane, so, also, on the spiritual plane. Often, forgetting God, we stumble and fall, but remembering Him again, we gain our footing and rise up. So, after many attempts, success does come at last.

But how can we work if we do not care for results? Where is the motive to work in this case? “Make Me your motive,” says the Lord. So long as we are human beings, we cannot escape from action. Without action life cannot be sustained. Tennyson writes:

“The eye cannot choose but see,

 We cannot bid the ear still,

Our bodies feel wherever they be,

With or against our will.”

While life remains, action is unavoidable. Seeing is an act; breathing is an act; hearing is an act; thinking is an act – all these acts cause many effects. Every act forges a link in our chain of karma, unless it is done selflessly; unless it is performed as a sacrifice, an offering to God. It shows us the path to liberation; to be in the world and at the same time to rise beyond the world. Not by escaping from life and our responsibilities; not from running away from this battlefield of daily living shall we rise in Spirit, but by facing up to life and its challenges; not by avoiding, but by overcoming; not by idleness, but by industry; not by serving self, but by serving God. The Lord is saying: “Be up and doing, but do everything for Me. Do not starve yourself and neglect your duties and live a miserly life. No. Whatever you eat, whatever duty you perform, whatever you give, do that as an offering to Me. Then doing all these things, you will be free from sin and bondage.” 

(Pandit Ramdial Balbadar is a prominent Aachaarya (Teacher) of Hinduism in Guyana. He is the compiler and author of many titles and has over 30 years experience in Pandits’ Training across Guyana. He is currently the President of the Sanatan Vaidic Dharma Pandits’ Sabha, Region 3).