What is the meaning of Yajnya in Hindu Religion ?

Question

I get the answer as 'Sacrifice'. I am not happy about it. I feel that Yajnya means the process of creation. Do you have any info about the sanskrit root of the word Yajnya, Yadnya, Yajna etc ?

When was the word 'Sacrifice' was first used to translate the sanskrit word 'Yajnya'. Where and when was the sanskrit equivalent of the english word 'sacrifice' used to signify that the meanting of Yajnya is 'sacrifice' ?

Answer 1

According to Vedanth YAJNA is offering of food to the hunger of universe. Here The God represents the universe and food represents the knowledge and Yajna represents "Dhyana"(Meditation)

Collectively; The God is looking forward for our knowledge of His and our existance. That`s why He is recognised as "PRJNANAGHANA" in Upanishnads.

Answer 2

In Hinduism, Yajna (Devanagari यज्ञ IAST yajña; also anglicized as Yagna or Yagya) is a ritual of sacrifice (Monier-Williams gives the meanings "worship, prayer, praise; offering, oblation, sacrifice") more commonly practised during Vedic times. It is performed to please the Devas, or sometimes to the Supreme Spirit Brahman. It involves pouring oblations into the divine Agni (the sacrificial fire). Everything that is offered in the divine Agni is believed to reach the Devas. A yajna is typically performed by a hotar, with a number of additional priests playing a supporting role, chanting Vedic verses. Often there will be a fire in the centre of the stage and items are offered into the fire. Among the items offered as ahuti in the Yajna include many coconuts, large quantities of ghee, sandalwood shavings and even quantities of clothing. The time for which a yajn lasts depends on the type of yajna performed, some can last a few hours, some a few days and some even last over years with priests continuously offering sacred items to god accompanied with sacred verses. Yajna is performed typically with a large number of people in attendance. Yajna ,where milk products (ghee or yogurt), fruits, flowers, cloth, and money are offered, is also termed homa or havan. A typical Hindu marriage essentially consists of a yajna, because the fire deity Agni is supposed to be the witness of all pious marriages. Brahmins and certain other castes receive a yajnopavita at their upanayana. The yajnopavita symbolizes the right of the individual to carry out yagnas or homams. The mode of temple worship is termed agamic, while communication to divinity through the fire god, Agni, is considered Vedic. Temples of today are generally a combination of both Vedic and Agamic rituals. The sacrifical division of Shastra (Hindu scripture) is the Karma-Kanda portion of the Vedas which describe the most holiest sacrifices

Answer 3

I too understood 'Yajna' as sacrifice only. But only a sanskrit D.litt can give answer to the roots of the word. Shristi may be apt for process of creation.

Answer 4

Yajna (or Yagya) ... the real meaning is sacrifice.

As per vedantic practice Yagya is performed by lighting holy fire and sacrificing certain objects (butteroil, herbs etc) into the fire alongwith holy mantras. The ygya ends by giving donations to poor people and brahmins. Thus by performing a Yagya by vedic means is sacrifice to the fire for gaining cerain desires.

The esoteric or spiritual meaning of yagya is...sacrificing our desires for the sake of divinity

Thus a spiritual Yagya is our whole life with its desires and needs be sacrificed to the supreme

Answer 5

Yagjna--yaga---thyaga --sacrifice.

Answer 6

Another way of swindling money from ignorant people.

Answer 7

According to the Chandogya Upanishad "Dharma" has three pillars 1) Adhyayana; 2) Dana & 3) Yajna
These are the three pillars of Dharma on which Dharma resides, abodes, rests. However, even if we just remember one word, Yajna, it is enough. Everything is included in it. Self-study and gift-giving, both can be included Yajna. Yajna is universal.

The three meanings of the root Yaj

What does the word Yajna mean?
Because it is a Sanskrit term and the words in Sanskrit are like containers, you have to open it and then look into it, and only then the deeper esoteric significance of that word is discovered. The word Yajna is derived from the root Yaj that has three meanings.

Yaj = 1. To worship the Divinity

The first meaning is to worship the Divinity that exists in everybody and everywhere. Some people get lost with Hinduism, because there are so many Divinities, but please always remember that the God, the Supreme God is one. This is very clearly stated in the Rigveda which is the most ancient scripture of the Indian culture, "the truth is one, but the wise men describe it in endless ways". There are many different names for one Lord. Even according to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad there are 33 Divinities or Gods, but they are the manifestation of one single God, Supreme Lord. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad states that when somebody tells you "worship him, worship him" always keep in your mind that it is this Supreme Truth that has become all these, all these are his creation. Deva, Divinity, is the Supreme Truth which manifests itself in all different forms, so that we can worship it, just for our convenience. And the Sanskrit word for worship is "Upaasanaa", which means to sit near. According to the explanation of Bhagavan Shankaracharya "to sit near" means to meditate upon. "Worship means a prolonged state characterised by the flow of an identical idea, like a flow of oil." (Commentary on the Gita 12-3) The flow of water breaks, but the flow of oil is constant, it never breaks. So the Vrittis, the modifications, the fluctuations, of our mind need to flow in that constant manner when we worship, when we do Upaasanaa. This is the first significance of the root. The word is Yajna and its root is Yaj. So we are still just trying to understand the root from which the word is derived.

Yaj = 2. To come into contact, Satsanga

The second significance of the root is to come together, to come into contact; for example all of us have come into contact with each other. We are sitting together and we are trying to pursue the Divine Knowledge which has been described in the ancient scriptures. And such a contact was considered so essential and necessary to obtain wisdom in Ancient India that the word for contact in Sanskrit also means knowledge. The word is Samgati, which means to come into contact and according to ancient dictionaries such as MediniKosha it also means knowledge. And to come into contact with saintly people is so essential for our spiritual development that without that contact the knowledge cannot come into existence. "binu satasanga viveka na hoi" in the Ramacarita Manasa it is said that without Satsanga, which means to come into contact with Sat, Sajjana, truthful people, Viveka, knowledge of discrimination, knowledge about what is right and what is wrong, cannot dawn upon us. Then he says that that contact only happens with the grace of the Divine Lord. This contact is so essential that in one of the Buddha's commandments, in Sutta Nikaya, it is stated that if you want to come into contact with anybody, then come only in contact with great people, with truthful people, with great saints. Meet them, sit in their presence, understand the essence of Dhamma from them, only then the Divine Intelligence would dawn upon you. Panna in Pali and Prajna in Sanskrit mean Divine Intelligence. The same word is used by Lord Patanjali "Ritambhara tatra Prajna" (In the state of Union, Divine Wisdom dawns upon us) and the same word is used by Buddha in the Suttanikaaya in its Pali version, "pannaa labhati naannato", this Divine Knowledge, this Divine Wisdom, this Divine Intelligence can not be obtained from anybody else, accept the people that have realized the Truth. This Sansanga only happens by God's grace.

This contact with great saints is extremely essential. We can obtain knowledge by reading books. We can become a scholar by reading books. Everything is written in the books. By reading them we can even get it into our mind which is very easy comparatively. But to bring it in our life, to introduce the Divine Wisdom into our daily day-to-day life, is very difficult. The gap between our head and heart remains deep and vast. It is very difficult to fill that gap. Even after becoming a great scholar, how to live all that we have studied, how to experience it, this remains the greatest challenge. Only a living master can help us there. No book, no film, no CD, nothing helps there. It has to be a living entity. So even after becoming a great scholar and after getting all the information that we need to have to be able to walk on this path of Spirituality, the first step only occurs when we come in contact with truthful people, with Sat, or with Sat-guru. Sat means that which exists, somebody who exists, somebody who can describe that Truth. Somebody who lives it.

You might have heard the word "Acarya" in Sanskrit. It is quite a famous word. People always say "I'm an Acarya" which means I'm a master. But what the word Acarya in itself means? It is a person who teaches "Aacaara", conduct, how to behave, how to live. And how does he teach it? Through words? No, it cannot be taught through words. If I keep on telling you, do this and that, and never do it myself, nobody would listen to me. And this is what is happening in today's world. Nobody is listening to anybody. There are so many masters, but no body is listening to them. Because they use words, but they don't live them, they don't teach how to behave through their own behavior, through their own life, through their own living example. The word Acarya means one who teaches as a living example. And that is why in ancient India, if you read the Upanishads, the teachings were very little, just a very few words, but the students lived for years together with their masters, while serving them, being in their presence and just absorbing the knowledge that is radiating from them each and every moment of their life, this is Satsanga which is even more essential and necessary than this verbal dialogue for which we usually use the word Satsanga now a days. Today when we talk about Satsanga people think now he will start to talk on some spiritual topic. But talking is not a necessity for Satsanga, on the contrary it is a hindrance for deeper communion. There is a very beautiful statement about Dakshinaa Muurti. Under a Banyan tree something absurd, really strange is happening. Dakshinaa Muurti was a five-year old child, Self-enlightened child. The statement is, "under a Banyan tree there is an absurd scene, the teacher is a small child and the students are old people. The discourse of the master is silent and the students are freed from all their doubts." This is indeed also the divine communion that we can see in the life of Lord Buddha. Once Ananda asked him, "O my master! Have you described everything to me?" Ananda was an intellectual person, so he approached Buddha and asked such a question. He used to memorize everything. Whatever Buddha taught him, he memorized it. He remembered all the teachings of the Buddha. One can only memorize words. The Wisdom has to bee understood. That is why he never became a Buddha, he always remained a Sthavira, an old monk and never reached the state of Buddhatva. He even didn't become an Arhat, an able one. So he goes to Buddha and asks, "have you described everything to me?" Buddha goes into deep silence and meditates for a few moments, picks up a few leafs from the ground and says, "Ananda! Whatever I have told you, or whatever anybody else has told you, whatever you have studied or heard from any source, is just this much, just a handful of leafs. And everything, as much as all leafs that you see around you in this forest and all forest and everything else, still remains to be described, but cannot be described through words." This is why silence eventually is the last means to communicate the Divine Teaching. There is no other means left. Words can never pass the message. Upanishads tell us, "From where the mind, along with speech, comes back without reaching it. So this is the significance of the word Satsanga, which is one of the significances of the root Yaj.

Yaj = 3. To give

The third significance of the root Yaj is to give. To share with others whatever has been given to you by the Lord. So in pure grammatical significance the word Yajna which has been derived from the root Yaj means, 1. to worship the Divinity, 2. to come into contact with Saintly people, 3. and to give, to share. This gives us a small picture of Yajna and what it is. In Yajna we worship the Divinity, we come into contact with great souls and we give to others. Such a Yajna is universal because it doesn't belong to one particular religion, but in every religion we perform such Yajna. In every religion we worship the Divinity, the form can differ, the Divinity is always the same, and this is approved by the statement of the Rigveda, "the Truth is one, but the wise men have their different approaches". I would like to add to this that different wise people in different times and in different places used different terms to denote one single Divinity. To worship the Divinity and then to come in contact with those who have already worshiped that Divinity for quite a long time and try to live that life, then to give to others, all this is called Yajna, which is one of the most central aspect of Vedic Sanatana Religion, known as Hinduism now a days.

Five Yajnas

There are five types of Yajnas, five different types to worship. The fist one is called Brahma Yajna. It has different significances. It can also mean the greatest worship or it can also mean to worship the holy word or the holy teachings. The word Brahman in Sanskrit in fact denotes something that is omnipresent, something that exists everywhere. In the same way as the Supreme Truth exists everywhere, His Divine Knowledge, His Divine Word, is considered eternal and omnipresent in Hindu Culture. The Lord and Lord's word, both are considered eternal and omnipresent. That is why the Lord, the Supreme Truth and Its words, the holy book, both of them are referred to by the same term "Brahma". The Vedas are also called Brahma and the Supreme Truth that has been described in the Vedas is also called Brahma. So to worship that Holy Word means to read it and then trying to live it, experience it in our life. This is the first form of Yajna.

This is also called Svadhyaya in various scriptures which means to study about the Self. It is one aspect of the first step towards Yoga, which is called Kriya Yoga by Patanjali. According to Patanjali Kriya Yoga is Austerity, Self-study and complete surrender to Lord. When we take BrahmaYajna in its universal application, if we take it in a universal significance, we consider every Holy Divine text the word of that Supreme Lord, may it be the Bible, may it be the Dhamma Pada or the Tripitaka, may it be the Vedas, may it be the Upanishads, may it be the Gita, may it be the Koran, may it be the Avesta, to read them and trying to live in accordance with their teachings is called Brahma Yajna.

Benefits of Brahma Yajna

What is the benefit of doing this? Patanjali gives a list of benefits. If you ask Lord Patanjali that what is the benefit of Svadhyaya, the first thing that he will say is "inner purification". Purification from ignorance, purification from ego, attachment, hatred and fears. The second benefit of performing Svadhyaya (Self-study) is the ability to reach the state of Samadhi. The third benefit that he mentions is "Ishta devataa samprayogah", meeting with the desired Deva, radiant beings, to obtain the radiant modifications of our intellect. Our mind has different fluctuations and modifications, at times dark ones and sometimes radiant ones. The radiant modifications of our mind are called Devas, Divinities, and dark thoughts, dark modifications of our mind are called Asuras, Demons. This has been very stated by Shankaracharya in the commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. So, to be able to reach the desired Divinities and to introduce them into our personality, Self-study is extremely essential. The statement of Lord Patanjali means by performing Self-study you come in contact with your desired Divinity. These are the benefits of Brahma Yajna, The first aspect of Yajna.

Devayajna

The second Yajna is the fire-sacrifice that we perform in the Yajna Shala, where we burn fire, we worship the fire, considering it as a symbol of the Supreme Lord. It is the most wonderful symbol that we can have in this world, more wonderful than any other symbol. It is universal. You will see a candle, a lamp in all temples, in churches, everywhere. Why? Because fire is in the center of everything. It is in the center of our body, in the form of Jathara Agni, gastric fire. It is in the center of this earth. It is in the center of the solar system in the form of the sun. Everything is rotating around Light, with the power, the force, given by that Light. The fire exists within everything and it is the same fire in all different manifestations. If we have three flames in front of us, none of them is different from each other. It is just that space that is creating a difference. The moment you bring them together, they become one flame. So the fire is hidden everywhere. It is not visible here in this desk, but when you rub it, the fire will manifest. It is everywhere like God, but you have to make an effort to manifest it, to be able to see it, to be able to experience it. One of the most wonderful qualities of the fire is that it always faces upwards. However you place a candle, the flame will always go upwards. Fire is a great purifier. It purifies everything. It destroys darkness. Whatever is given to the fire, it consumes it and then distributes it to everybody. You put herbs and melted butter into the fire, and they reach everybody. Such a fire, let me make it very clear, is not only worshiped in Hinduism. If you read the Old Testament, "Aahitaagni" priests have been mentioned. The Sanskrit term means "priests in whose houses the fire never extinguishes" and such priests have even been mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible. The book Leviticus which is from the Old Testament mentions very clearly,

"And the Lord spake unto moses, And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. Forever the fire shall burn on the altar and never it shall go out" - Leviticus (The ritual precepts) 6-12,13"

Even in the Koran it is stated, "Praise be to Him who is in the fire and who is also around the fire. Praise Allah, the lord of the worlds". (Surah An Naml 27-8)

Lord Zarathushtra says, "Contemplate the beams of Fire with a most pious mind. Fire purifies everything it touches, and itself remains pure. Nothing, ever, can pollute Fire." You must read the teachings of Lord Zarathushtra regarding the Fire, they are extraordinary and wonderful.

So this fire is a central aspect in every religion because every religious mind was fascinated and attracted towards it when it saw this radiant object, which is really a wonderful symbol, on which we can meditate, analyze its properties, and internally try to become like that fire, i.e. introduce all its beautiful qualities into our personality. I think this is what Lord Zarathushtra means when he says, "Fire teaches many a lesson to all who contemplate its beams with an enquiring mind." The Rigveda also mentions very clearly, "By meditating upon the Fire, one obtains Divine Wisdom." And this is why we worship the fire in this second aspect of Yajna, which is Devayajna, which means to worship the radiant one. This is the second Yajna.

Pitri Yajna

The third Yajna is to worship our parents, masters and forefathers. Our mother who has given us this beautiful human body which gives us a chance for relief and salvation. It is the most precious and beautiful gift that we have been given by God. God has given it to us, in the form of our mother. The first necessity to reach salvation is that we need a body, a strong healthy body. To experience the beauty of this life we need a body. So we need to be thankful to our parents and then to our masters. The Vedas command us, Matri devo bhava, Let your mother be God unto you; mother is God. Pitridevo bhava, let your father be God unto you, father is God. Acharya devo bhava, let your master be God unto you, master is God. To worship all of them, to take care of them, to obey them, to serve them, this is called Pitri Yajna, the third aspect of Yajna.

Nriyajna

The fourth Yajna is Nriyajna, which means to worship the entire humanity. Nri means human. To worship the humans, to serve them, take care of them if they are in grief, pain or sorrow. To work hard for the well being and peace of the entire humanity is Nriyajna.

Bhutayajna

Bhuta means all the creatures that have come into existence. Any living being is a Bhuta. To worship it, to serve it, to see the Divinity in everybody, in every creature, is BhutaYajna. This is the fifth and the last Yajna. And that is why the greatest devotee according to Krishna in the Gita is he who is engaged in the well being of every creature.

And the last abode, the goal that we need to reach even after salvation, even after we have reached Moksha, or whatever our goal is, is to become beneficial for the entire creation. If the ultimate goal there is to serve the humanity, and not only the humanity, but to serve, to be beneficial towards every creature, for me this is Supreme Perfection. This is the supreme goal at least for me, higher than any other religious, philosophical or dogmatic goal. Serve the entire creation! We have reached the end. If any questions are left, let us discuss them together.