We are ever engaged in action.
No action is totally good or totally bad. Rain may be good to the farmer,
but bad to the brick layer. Actions are but a mixture of both good and
evil. And there is no action without reaction. Reactions too are a mixture
of good and evil. We are caught in the cycle of actions and reactions,
incessantly taking place around us. We are bound by them, if we are to
entertain the feelings of' I' and ' mine '. When we are free from them,
we are free from all bondage. The way to be free from all is to perform
all actions as a yajna.
Yajna is any and every activity performed selflessly,
with utmost sraddha for the welfare of others. Any welfare activity is
a yajna when performed intelligently with concern for others.
Among the yajnas, Pitru yajna is one. Charity begins
at home. So also yajna begins at home. Lord Vinayaka is a role model for
Pitru yagna. He considered his parents to be everything. His pradakshina
round his parents is equal to going round the cosmos. The service or yajna
done to the parents is equal to the service of humanity, nay, the whole
universe.
Pundarika, a devotee went to the extent of making the
deity himself wait on a brick until he completed his service to the parents.
And the God approved of his resolve and granted him liberation.
Sravana Kumar and a host of young men and women reached
their highest through the service of parents and elders. Service to parents
is indeed the greatest yajna. "Mathru devo bhava, pitru devo
bhava " is the Vedic injunction.
Even after their departure, to please the departed souls one must perform
Sraddha according to scriptural injunction.
India is great because it has excellent culture. He is cultured who is
a yajnamurti, the performer of yajna. And yajna is but loving service.
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