Yagya

Sanskrit word “Yajna” means “Sat Karma – Noble Deeds” i.e. selfless sacrifice for noble purposes. All activities in the limitless expansion of the universe are said to have generated from a grand eternal yagya.
The behavior pattern of Nature follows the spirit of Yagya.
The Ocean gives its water to the clouds. Clouds carry and pour then as rain. Rain fed soils and rivers and in turn return to ocean. Each part of body constantly working for the well-being of the whole body.
Wherever we turn our eyes we can see that the cosmos is run on the yagya spirit.
Yagya comprises of three elements:

• Worship of Gods – Appreciating noble qualities
• Togetherness – Unity
• Charity – Welfare/ Donation

The real purpose of Yagya is to imbibe virtues like self-sacrifice, self- restraint (sanyam), charity, beneficence, generosity, compassion etc. in our daily life. It inspires us to surrender everything, body, mind, ego and soul to God. A Sadhak on surrendering himself to God, who has been described as Yagya -purush in the scriptures, becomes one with Yagya , just as samidhas on being consumed in the sacrificial fire of Yagya become fire itself.

The real Yagya is to follow the directions and inspirations of our indwelling divinity and imbibe righteous tendencies. Constant remembrance of the Divine, keeping an attitude of detachment and remaining engrossed in regular sacred studies and devotion amounts to leading a Yagyiya life.

Amidst the fascinating achievements of the modern era of science and technology in improving our comfort levels, stress and pollution have posed the major challenge for man. The world is beginning to realize that the comforts provided to us by modern science and technology do not necessarily always make life easier.
In fact, apart from greater stress and tension, more unknown diseases, untold anxiety and fear is caused by the highly polluted environment and ecological imbalance. This has raised alarming call for rethinking and guiding the common life style. Yagya appears to be a boon of the ancient Indian sciences for achieving this purpose.

In a physical laboratory, it might not be possible to demonstrate the spiritual effects of Yagya, but the physical and mental effects of Yagyas can be certainly tested, and the claims to cure physical and mental diseases through Yagya can be verified. The Brahmavarchas Shodha Sansthan (a scientific research center in Hardwar, India) has taken up research on this aspect of Yagya.

It is to be noted here that the traditional systems of treatment of physical diseases employ medicines which are mostly administered orally. They, therefore, produce effects only after they have been digested and absorbed into the system.

Most part of the medicine taken orally neither is nor utilized by the digestive system. Such medicines may also upset digestion seriously. The same is more or less true medicines directly injected into the blood. They produce results quicker, but their adverse side effects are often more pronounced. White corpuscles of the blood resent intrusion of any foreign bodies into the blood, and sometimes the reaction of the system to the sudden, massive and direct intrusion of foreign matter into the blood through injection proves most serious, and even fatal. In a Yagya, medicines and herbs are vaporized by offering them into the sacrificial fire, and they enter the human body in a gaseous form through the nose, lungs and the pores of the skin. This might be proved to be easiest, least taxing, least risky and most effective method of administering a medicine so as to reach every single cell of the body.

The possibilities of curing mental diseases by Yagya are even more alluring. Diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders is still in its infancy in the modern systems of treatment. There are neither well established diagnostic aids, nor any recognized system of treatment of diseases like Neurosis, Psychosis,
Schizophrenia, Depression, Tension, Melancholia, Mania, Hysteria etc. On the other hand, psychosomatic diseases are even more rampant than physical diseases and they wreck the man more than the latter.

Manifestation of psychosomatic diseases except in extreme and advanced cases is not so apparent, and that may explain why enough attention has not been paid to them. The stress and strain of modern life, degradation of social behavior and fall in moral values all around are contributing to an alarming increase in psychosomatic diseases. Yagya might offer a solution to this serious problem as well.

The technique of Yagya for the treatment of physical and mental diseases does not comprise mere vaporization of the constituents or herbs to be employed, but various Samidhas are offered into the sacrificial fire of Yagya to create the desired effects. Research on all these aspects of Yagya is being conducted in the laboratory of Brahmvarchas. It might well lead to the development of a scientifically established in yagnopathy, which may find not only an honored but a leading place in other therapies of the world like Allopathy, Homeopathy, Chromopathy, Naturopathy, etc. Looking to the high intellectual caliber and attainments of those who are engaged in research, Yagnopathy may come into being sooner than expected, and it may rank a unique achievement of the modern age.