7.1.3 Yagnas, ashramas, purusharthas and samskaras

Explained

Why yajna. The yajna links people and gods. Its aims: divine grace, worldly gains (wealth, health, sons, long life), heaven (svarga), and, when done without desire for reward, loka kalyana (welfare of the world). A rite done expecting a fruit is phalapekshita karma.

Stages of a yajna (in order).

Why five daily sacrifices. Manu says a householder unknowingly harms small life at five places in daily work (hearth, grinding stone, broom, mortar and pestle, water pot: the pancha suna). The five great sacrifices make amends and keep the householder in balance with gods, sages, ancestors, other beings and fellow humans. They are small, daily and done at home; they are not Shrauta rites.

Nitya, naimittika, kamya. Duties done every day without fail are nitya karma (Sandhyavandana, the pancha mahayajnas); rites on special occasions are naimittika; rites for a desired result are kamya. Sandhyavandana, the prayer at dawn and dusk with Gayatri japa and arghya (water) to the Sun, is a daily nitya karma, not one of the sixteen samskaras. The Puranas tell that the Mandeha asuras attack the Sun at each sandhya and the arghya of the twice-born drives them back.

The 21 Vedic sacrifices: three groups of seven.

• Lists vary: Gautama gives the Paka yajnas as Ashtaka, Parvana, Shraddha, Shravani, Agrahayani, Chaitri, Ashvayuji; many Havir lists begin with Agnyadheya (setting up the three fires) instead of the Pinda pitru yajna; the usual Soma list has Shodashi where the book has Paundarika.
• Agnihotra: daily milk oblation, morning and evening; one who keeps the three fires is an ahitagni.
• Darsha-Purnamasa: new-moon and full-moon offerings, the model for all ishtis. Chaturmasya: seasonal offerings every four months.
• Agnichayana: building a great brick fire altar, often in the shape of a falcon (shyena), with a soma sacrifice.

The great royal yagas.

• Rajasuya: consecration of a king, with a game of dice and the anointing (abhisheka). Yudhishthira's Rajasuya led to the dice game and exile.
• Vajapeya: a soma sacrifice with a chariot race that the yajamana wins; raises a king to samrat.
• Ashvamedha: a horse roams for a year with guards; kings whose land it crosses must submit or fight. Sagara's horse was stolen by Indra and hidden near Kapila's ashram. Historical kings: Pushyamitra Shunga, Samudragupta, Pulakeshin I.
• Sarpa yaga: Janamejaya, son of Parikshit, resolved to destroy all serpents because Takshaka had killed his father; Astika stopped it.
• Daksha's yajna (the Brihaspatisava of the Bhagavata): Shiva and Sati not invited; Sati gives up her body; Virabhadra destroys the yajna.

Ashramas: what each stage owes.

• Brahmacharya begins with Upanayana. The student lives with the guru (gurukula), studies the Veda, serves the guru (guru shushrusha), controls the senses (indriya-nigraha), begs food (bhiksha) and respects elders. A naishthika brahmachari stays a student for life; an upakurvana returns home to marry. It ends with Samavartana.
• Grihastha begins with Vivaha. It supports the other three, as all creatures live by air (Manu). Duties: ekapatni vratam (one wife), serving parents, atithi satkaram (honouring guests), dharma santanam (raising children in dharma), helping the poor; earning artha and enjoying kama within dharma; paying the debts and keeping the five great sacrifices.
• Vanaprastha is the transition: the householder hands duties to the next generation, starts withdrawing from artha and kama, lives in the forest with or without his wife on roots and tubers (kandamula), and practises japa, tapas and dhyana, preparing for sannyasa and moksha.
• Sannyasa is sarvasanga parityaga, giving up home, fire, property and ritual: the sannyasi conquers desire and anger, leaves his wife in the care of the children, teaches dharma and works for the good of the world while seeking moksha. He carries a staff (danda) and water pot. Some Puranas (Agni, Garuda) call the fourth stage Yati.
• The Jabala Upanishad lists all four and allows a person with strong detachment to take sannyasa from any stage.

Purusharthas and karma.

• Dharma guides the other two: wealth and pleasure are good when earned and enjoyed within dharma. The student learns dharma, the householder pursues artha and kama within dharma, the forest dweller and renunciant turn to moksha.
• Karma theory: the punya and papa of one's own deeds yield karma-phalas that decide one's future and next births; each person shapes his own destiny.

Debts: the classical three and the course book's six.

• The book adds Bhuta rina, repaid by Bhuta yajna.

Key samskaras in detail.

• Pumsavana is in the early months of pregnancy; Simantonnayana in the middle or late months.
• Jatakarma is the first samskara after birth. Chudakarana (Chaula; Telugu Puttuventrukalu) is the first hair removal, in the 1st or 3rd year.
• Upanayana ("leading near" the teacher): the boy receives the sacred thread (yajnopavita) and the Gayatri (Savitri) mantra, becomes a dvija (twice-born) and enters brahmacharya. Manu's ages: Brahmana 8, Kshatriya 11, Vaishya 12 (counted from conception). Vedarambha follows it.
• Samavartana: with the guru's leave the student offers gurudakshina and returns home, like a graduation.
• Vivaha takes one from brahmacharya into grihastha: Kanyadana (father gives the bride), Panigrahana (holding the hand), Agni pradakshina, Saptapadi (seven steps; marriage is complete with the seventh), Dhruva and Arundhati darshana (the pole star and the star of the faithful wife).
• Antyeshti: cremation with the household fire; then the days of impurity (ashaucha), Sapindikarana (joining the dead to the ancestors, usually the 12th day), monthly and yearly shraddha.

Eight forms of marriage.