SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM - Prabhupada

70 Srnnad-Bhagavabun [Canto 7, Ch. 2recommended. But for those in the mode of goodness, the transcendentalworship of Vi!;!QU is recommended. Ultimately, all yajiias are meant forgradual promotion to the transcendental position. For ordinary men, atleast five yajiias, known as paiica-mahii.yajna, are necessary.One should know, however, that all the necessities of life that humansociety requires are supplied by the demigod agents of the Lord. No onecan manufacture anything. Consider, for example, all the eatables ofhuman society. These eatables include grains, fruits, vegetables, milkand sugar for persons in the mode of goodness, and also eatables for thenonvegetarians, such as meats, none of which can be manufactured bymen. Then again, take for example, heat, light, water and air, which arealso necessities of life-none of them can be manufactured by humansociety. Without the Supreme Lord, there can be no profuse sunlight,moonlight, rainfall or breeze, without which no one can live. Obviously,our life is dependent on supplies from the Lord. Even for our manufacturingenterprises, we require so many raw materials like metal,sulphur, mercury, manganese and so many essentials-all of which aresupplied by the agents of the Lord, with the purpose that we should makeproper use of them to keep ourselves fit and healthy for the purpose ofself-realization, leading to the ultimate goal of life, namely, liberationfrom the material struggle for existence. This aim of life is attained byperformance of yajiias. If we forget the purpose of human life andsimply take supplies from the agents of the Lord for sense gratificationand become more and more entangled in material existence, which is notthe purpose of creation, certainly we become thieves, and therefore weare punished by the laws of material nature. A society of thieves cannever be happy, for they have no aim in life. The gross materialistthieves have no ultimate goal of life. They are simply directed to sensegratification; nor do they have knowledge of how to perform yajiias.Lord Caitanya, however, inaugurated the easiest performance of yajna,namely the saitkirtana-yajna, which can be performed by anyone in theworld who accepts the principles of .i(r!;!Qa consciousness.Hirat;tyakasipu planned to kill the inhabitants of earth so that yajnawould stop and the demigods, being disturbed, would die automaticallywhen Lord Vi!;!QU, the yajnesvara, was killed. These were the demoniacplans of HiraQyakasipu, who was expert in such activities.