A KORA OF KORAS

Type to enter text
Yagya
The philosophy, practice and principle of the oldest religious culture in the
world is found in ancient India and may be summed up by the word ‘Yagya’ or
‘sacrifice.’ In the Vedic culture there are said to be five debts that we all must
repay—to the celestial gods, to the sages, to our ancestors, to other humans, and
to all living beings. Yagya, often interpreted as a Vedic sacrifice, is typically done
with the help of priests in which offerings are made to various deities to nourish
and repay our debts to them so they are satisfied and in turn assist us in achieving
our goals and desires in life. It is Yagya that is said to lead to Yoga, the auspicious
state of harmony and unity with God, gods and all beings and elements, both
here and hereafter.
In the Vedic world Yagya was the panacea of all human problems from martial
discord to snakebites. However the understanding of Yagya was interpreted
differently for people in various stages of life.20 For those who had left the city or
village and lived in the forest, devoting their whole life to Liberation, their
summary of a radical understanding of yagya is recorded in the Upanishads. For
them, the many Yagyas of animals, grains, money and fruit were not capable of
being performed and a more principled understanding of Yagya took their place;
abandoning the many different sacrifices ritually performed by householders,