The First Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yajna in Prasanthi Nilayam

October 1, 1962 

Swami came in a procession from Prasanthi Nilayam Mandir accompanied by Dr. B. Ramakrishna Rao and Brahmasri Kameswara Ghanapathy to the Yaga Shala.

Sri Sathya Sai at the Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yajna at Prasanthi Nilayam

The first Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yajna was inaugurated by Swami on this day at 9.30 am. This was a major step forward in Swami‘s mission of ‘Dharma Samrakshana’. In the inaugural discourse Bhagavan highlighted the true significance of the Yajna. He said:

"Today, long before the sun rose, I could see Bliss (Ananda) rising in your hearts, for you woke up long before dawn and got ready to come here for the inauguration of this ritual of Yajna! I had suggested 9:30 as the time for this event, but others suggested an earlier auspicious hour due to the showers that came this morning. My resolve prevailed, and we are meeting here to inaugurate the ritual at 9:30 itself!

Bliss is ultimately based on food, food is derived from rain, rain is the gift of God in exchange for sacrificial offerings. Sacrifice is a rite done as per the Karma Kaanda, a part of the Vedas that deals with action. So, the Vedic God-head (Veda Purusha) is the spring out of which Bliss wells. That is why this ritual of sacrifice is called Veda Purusha Yajna.

Yajna is the destiny of every living being. Life is sustained by the sacrifice of the living. Every being, from the tiniest amoeba to the most profound scholar, is perpetually engaged in sacrifice. The mother sacrifices for the child, the father for the progeny, the friend for the friend, the individual for the group, the present for the sake of the future, the rich for the poor, the weak for the strong — it is all Yajna, sacrifice, offering. However, most of it is not conscious, most of it is not voluntary, most of it is not righteous. It is done out of fear or greed or with a view to the fruits thereof, or by mere instinct or primeval urge. It must be consciously done, it must be for spiritually elevating purposes, especially in humans. Then, when life becomes sacrifice-filled, egoism will disappear and the river will merge in the sea.

Bring out the priceless pearls of India’s past

The stream of sacrifice is the river Saraswati of the Vedic Triveni (the three rivers Saraswati, Ganga and Yamuna). The meaning and significance of every single hymn and rite of the Vedas is sacrifice. Every single syllabus of the Vedas is a name of God — it has about thirteen lakhs of such syllables. When the river Saraswati underneath the twin rivers Ganga and Yamuna dries up, it will be a terrible tragedy; so also when the stream of sacrifice dries up, it will be a great loss of spiritual wealth. Because when that happens, India cannot continue to be India. The culture of India (Bharata Varsha) is called the land of Vedas (Karma Bhumi), since Yajna is the action (Karma) that is the most worthwhile. It is Veda Bhumi (land of Vedas), not the Vedana Bhumi (land of anguish) it is fast becoming. Vedana (suffering) can never come if the Vedas are learnt and practised again.

Do not be satisfied with simply collecting a few gaudy shells from the shore of this ancient culture. Dive deep into its past and bring out the priceless pearls.

“The Vedas are the root of all virtue (Vedhokhilo Dharma Moolam).” If the roots are injured, the tree will die. If the roots are alive, the tree can grow again. It can survive the lopping of the branches, the denudation of the leaves, but once the roots decay, there is no hope. The Vedas and the Shastras (scriptures) are the two eyes of India. But by blind imitation of Western cultures and by blind carping on the native culture, these two eyes have become dim. Those who have no vision have to be led by others. Indians too are thrown into this plight, when they allowed the Vedas and the Shastras to be neglected. They are reduced to dependence on others, who showed them the way to their own culture.

People have bandaged their eyes with egoism

Do not cry out for help to the rulers or governments if you desire to revive the Vedas. No, the Veda belongs to those who crave it, who know its value, who are afflicted with an insatiable thirst for it, who desire to practise it, and who are eager to derive the joy and calm that it can impact. No one else has the right to patronise it and talk highly about it; such talk will be insincere and, therefore, valueless and even false. People who do not know how to distinguish between the fleeting and the fixed, the right and the wrong, the true and the false, sit in judgement on the Vedas and strut about pompously in their narrow conceited circles; but others keep aloof from such critics. To say, as some of these do, that the Vedas are contraptions put together by a few Brahmins for their aggrandizement is the height of folly; it is the case of the mentally weak judging a thing beyond their ken.

A fish, even if it is put into a golden bowl, struggles desperately to return to the sea from which it was pulled up. It is in mortal agony until it reaches its primal home. It wants water all round it to be happy and alive. Mankind also is of the nature of divine bliss (Ananda); one cannot survive without bliss. A person is Immortality embodied (Amrita Swarupa), so it is difficult for a person to imagine that their body will fall off and have to die one day. People have bandaged their eyes with egoism, and they say the darkness is very congenial; they take as true the curious shapes of things they sees darkly.

Vedic scholars must save the Vedas

There are some disciplines and some righteousness (Dharma) to follow if you desire to take off the bandage and see the Light and all things in the new Light. This worldly disease can be cured by the Vedic drug and the regimen of restrictions and regulations, the various do’s and don’ts that these Brahmins are following. Do not dismiss these restrictions and regulations as mere superstitions. No one practises them for the fun of it all; they are very hard limitations on conduct and on the details of daily life. It requires great faith, courage, and hardihood to hold them as true and put them into practice. Honour those who have that faith and that courage. I know the sincerity with which they have been leading this regulated life, for I have been with every one of them since years.

By long neglect, the road laid down by the Vedic seers is overgrown with thorns; it is now well-nigh unrecognisable, what with potholes, scoutings, hollows, and brush. Just as some travelers spoil the very rest-houses where they are given shelter, the Vedas have been covered with calumny by the very people whom they have blessed and elevated. When a country is in danger of invasion, the army, that is, a part of the population selected carefully and trained systematically for the specific purpose of war, rushes to ward off the invader. Similarly, when the Vedas are in danger, this well-trained, selected band of dedicated Vedic scholars must take up the task.

These Pandits and scholars were struggling in agony because they felt forsaken and alone. Now look at them, sitting gaily dressed, as brides in the marriage pavilion; with joy in their faces and hope in their hearts. They had no one hitherto even to listen with patience to their scrupulously correct recitals of the Vedic Mantras. Henceforth, they have no reason to fear. 

My task comprises protection of Vedas (Veda Samrakshana), fostering Vedic scholars (Vidwat Poshana), and establishment of righteousness (Dharma Sthapana). All three are interdependent. Fostering Vedic scholars helps both the Vedas and Dharma, so I assure them that their scholarship and sincerity will not go unrewarded. The era of neglect has ended."

The next eight evenings saw a galaxy of Vedic scholars headed by Brahmasri Uppaluri Ghanapathy Sastry, expounding various aspects of Sanatana Dharma. These sessions were followed by Swami further elucidating what the speaker for the day has spoken about. Sri Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao gave a musical recital on the fifth day. A Burra Katha was performed by Krishnamadhava Rao and party on the eighth. 

Sri Sathya Sai with the Pandits during the Navaratri Yajna at Prasanthi Nilayam

On the Vijaya Dashami Day, Bhagavan elaborated on the true offerings that He expects each one of us to make in the Poornahuti. He said:

"The Bhagavata was the subject of the discourse by Kalluri Veerabhadra Shastry today, but do not think that it has no relevancy to the seven-day Vedic ritual of Sacrifice of Spiritual Wisdom for the Supreme Being of Veda (Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yajna); for the Bhagavata contains the essence of Veda itself. In hymn after hymn, the Veda speaks of the glory of God, known by various names as Indra, Varuna, and Mitra. It is all worship filled with devotion to God, whom the Veda itself declares as One, “though endowed with a variety of names”. The Bhagavatam is the essence of Veda, made available for easy assimilation by all. It is just a limb of the Vedic literature, and as limb it is an inseparable part of the Vedic tradition. The same blood flows in this limb too; it makes the Veda beautiful and charming.

Just as juveniles are shown pictures and made to learn names of the objects that they represent, the Bhagavatam teaches the Imperishable through the perishable. You cannot attain the subtle without experiencing the gross, without the instrumentality of the gross. After rising to the heights of awareness (chit) with a dull-witted instrument, you have to also make the instrument so suffused by Supreme Consciousness (Chaitanya) that the difference does not persist! In meditation, the picture first felt has to be transformed into the picture of the purified imagination, and that again has to be rarified into the subtle abstract principle only. Then only can the Form being meditated on be transcended and the highest vision of universal beauty, wisdom, and strength obtained. The Bhagavatam helps in this spiritual education, taking the student through all the lessons from the primary to postgraduate levels.

Look for the real meaning of Vedas

Most of you always bypass the real meaning of the legends, tales, and descriptions given in the ancient scriptures. For example, Brahma’s lotus is not a stalk that grows in mud and rises above the waters to catch the rays of the sun and blossom but the many petaled lotus of the heart, each petal being the direction in which a particular tendency attracts the individual. The bull on which Shiva is said to ride is not the animal called by that name but the symbol of Dharma, which has the four legs truth, righteousness, peace, and love. Gopala (Krishna) did not graze cattle but protected and fed living beings, known also as “Go”. In the study of the Veda, look for the meaning that satisfies the heart, and do not rest content if the meaning satisfies the head! 

Be proud of your Ancestry

You have to trace your ancestry and be proud of it. From the Supreme Soul, i.e. the Source, nature descended with the emergence of illusion; and from the stuff of that illusion, space; from space, wind; from wind, fire; from fire, water; from water, earth. By a combination of the five elements, this tabernacle of the Paramatma, that is, you, was produced. The entire ladder has now to be climbed up in order to reach the Divine, the origin of all. There is a regular syllabus for the promotion of the spiritual aspirant, which is given in that form in the Veda and in an elaborate story form in Bhagavatam.

I will not accept it if you say that you are an atheist with no faith in the Lord. For what is the root of that faith in yourself? Who are you that you should believe yourself? No. You believe yourself because your Self is God, and you have an unshakable faith in God, deep down in you. Faith in yourself and faith in God are identical; you tap the strength of the God within when you stand at attention against an enemy without. That is why there is a persistent whisper, within to use that strength in the path of mercy, charity, helpfulness.

Offer your Bad Qualities into Sacrificial Fire

Everyone has to go from here when the provisions they have brought or secured have been spent. But by that time, attain the purpose of all this bother of arriving, traveling, accumulating, and spending: the realisation of supreme happiness by ending this circle of birth and death. From this very moment, change your habits and conduct for the better. That is the measure of your sincerity. Have faith and steadfastness. I cannot be deceived by mere play acting. Folding arms and shedding tears will not make Me take you as a devotee. If you try devious paths pretending to be what you genuinely are not, the punishment will be greater in order to cure you of that trait also.

Tomorrow, between eight and nine in the morning the valedictory offering in the sacred fire (Poornahuti) will take place. That is a precious moment in every Yajna; the full and final offering is considered the fulfillment of the ritual. But here, you must keep one fact in mind. I am not getting this Yajna done; I am He who receives the offerings of the Yajna. I observe many of you are getting active to procure from Bangalore or Anantapur, in time for the Poornahuti, articles like sandalwood, gold, precious stones, etc. to be put into the sacrificial fire when the final invocation is made. I am not permitting anybody to do that. It is easy to throw away a few rupees and purchase a few material objects from some shop and bring them here and throw them into the fire and go about saying that you have done a great big act of sacrifice. I am going to set you a more difficult task; you cannot escape by doing the easy thing.

I want that you should all, when the valedictory offering is offered into the fire, stand up and reverentially offer into the same fire every one of the bad qualities that you have — the faults, the failings, the temptations, the transgressions. Search for these today, unearth them from their hidden places, bring them with you here tomorrow, nicely packed, and with one final heave of mental exertion, throw them in when the flames of Poornahuti rise aloft. That is the share you have to secure in this Yajna. That, nothing more and nothing less.

These Pandits have done you a great service. You must be grateful to them for it. They have given you a clear picture of the glory and splendour of Vedic Mother. which is the real form of motherland. I shall tell them just one thing: when they have given Me Anandam, they have given you bliss also, for I am in every one of you."

Source: Sri Sathya Sai Digvijayam, Part 1 (1926 - 1985)