View source for There is panca-suna-yajna. You have to perform yajna every day to counteract the sinful reaction of your imperceptible killings of animals

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{{terms|"panca-maha-yajna"|"panca-suna"|"panca-yajna"|"panca-yajnas"}}
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{{compiler|Labangalatika}}
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{{totals_by_section|BG=1|SB=3|CC=0|OB=1|Lec=2|Con=0|Let=0}}
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[[Category:Panca]]
[[Category:Yajna]]
[[Category:Meaning of Sanskrit Words]]
[[Category:Kill]]
[[Category:Unknowingly]]
[[Category:Many]]
[[Category:Living Entities]]
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" class="section" sec_index="0" parent="compilation" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is"><h2>Bhagavad-gita As It Is</h2>
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<div id="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is" text="BG Chapters 1 - 6"><h3>BG Chapters 1 - 6</h3>
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<div id="BG312_0" class="quote" parent="BG_Chapters_1_-_6" book="BG" index="122" link="BG 3.12" link_text="BG 3.12">
<div class="heading">Ultimately all yajñas are meant for gradual promotion to the transcendental position. For ordinary men, at least five yajñas, known as pañca-mahā-yajña, are necessary.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:BG 3.12|BG 3.12, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The demigods are authorized supplying agents on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Viṣṇu. Therefore, they must be satisfied by the performance of prescribed yajñas. In the Vedas, there are different kinds of yajñas prescribed for different kinds of demigods, but all are ultimately offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For one who cannot understand what the Personality of Godhead is, sacrifice to the demigods is recommended. According to the different material qualities of the persons concerned, different types of yajñas are recommended in the Vedas. Worship of different demigods is also on the same basis—namely, according to different qualities. For example, the meat-eaters are recommended to worship the goddess Kālī, the ghastly form of material nature, and before the goddess the sacrifice of animals is recommended. But for those who are in the mode of goodness, the transcendental worship of Viṣṇu is recommended. But ultimately all yajñas are meant for gradual promotion to the transcendental position. For ordinary men, at least five yajñas, known as pañca-mahā-yajña, are necessary.</p>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
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<div id="SB_Canto_3" class="sub_section" sec_index="3" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 3"><h3>SB Canto 3</h3>
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<div id="SB31419_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_3" book="SB" index="549" link="SB 3.14.19" link_text="SB 3.14.19">
<div class="heading">A family man has a responsibility to perform five kinds of sacrifices, called pañca-yajña, in order to get relief from all kinds of unavoidable sinful reaction incurred in the course of his affairs.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 3.14.19|SB 3.14.19, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">By the Vedic injunction, the wife is accepted as the better half of a man's body because she is supposed to be responsible for discharging half of the duties of the husband. A family man has a responsibility to perform five kinds of sacrifices, called pañca-yajña, in order to get relief from all kinds of unavoidable sinful reaction incurred in the course of his affairs. When a man becomes qualitatively like the cats and dogs, he forgets his duties in cultivating spiritual values, and thus he accepts his wife as a sense gratificatory agency. When the wife is accepted as a sense gratificatory agency, personal beauty is the main consideration, and as soon as there is a break in personal sense gratification, there is disruption or divorce. But when husband and wife aim at spiritual advancement by mutual cooperation, there is no consideration of personal beauty or the disruption of so-called love. In the material world there is no question of love. Marriage is actually a duty performed in mutual cooperation as directed in the authoritative scriptures for spiritual advancement. Therefore marriage is essential in order to avoid the life of cats and dogs, who are not meant for spiritual enlightenment.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_7" class="sub_section" sec_index="7" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 7"><h3>SB Canto 7</h3>
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<div id="SB71414_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_7" book="SB" index="594" link="SB 7.14.14" link_text="SB 7.14.14">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 7.14.14|SB 7.14.14, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">An intelligent person should be satisfied with eating prasāda (food offered to the Lord) or with performing the five different kinds of yajña (pañca-sūnā). By such activities, one can give up attachment for the body and so-called proprietorship with reference to the body. When one is able to do this, he is firmly fixed in the position of a mahātmā.</p>
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<div id="SB_Canto_9" class="sub_section" sec_index="9" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 9"><h3>SB Canto 9</h3>
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<div id="SB91623_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_9" book="SB" index="576" link="SB 9.16.23" link_text="SB 9.16.23">
<div class="heading">Anyone in this material world, however careful he may be, must commit some sinful activities, even though he does not want to. For example, one may trample many small ants and other insects while walking on the street and kill many living beings unknowingly. Therefore the Vedic principle of pañca-yajña, five kinds of recommended sacrifice, is compulsory. In this age of Kali, however, there is a great concession given to people in general. The performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña is a special concession for human society to save people from being affected by known or unknown sinful activities.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 9.16.23|SB 9.16.23, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.9), yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ: "Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world." Karma-bandhanaḥ refers to the repeated acceptance of one material body after another. The whole problem of life is this repetition of birth and death. Therefore one is advised to work to perform yajña meant for satisfying Lord Viṣṇu. Although Lord Paraśurāma was an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he had to account for sinful activities. Anyone in this material world, however careful he may be, must commit some sinful activities, even though he does not want to. For example, one may trample many small ants and other insects while walking on the street and kill many living beings unknowingly. Therefore the Vedic principle of pañca-yajña, five kinds of recommended sacrifice, is compulsory. In this age of Kali, however, there is a great concession given to people in general. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ: ([[Vanisource:SB 11.5.32|SB 11.5.32]]) we may worship Lord Caitanya, the hidden incarnation of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇam: although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, He always chants Hare Kṛṣṇa and preaches Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One is recommended to worship this incarnation by chanting, the saṅkīrtana-yajña. The performance of saṅkīrtana-yajña is a special concession for human society to save people from being affected by known or unknown sinful activities. We are surrounded by unlimited sins, and therefore it is compulsory that one take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.</p>
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<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<div id="Krsna_The_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead"><h3>Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead</h3>
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<div id="KB69_0" class="quote" parent="Krsna,_The_Supreme_Personality_of_Godhead" book="OB" index="73" link="KB 69" link_text="Krsna Book 69">
<div class="heading">Consciously or unconsciously, in all our different activities, we are killing. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every householder to perform the pañca-sūnā sacrifice to rid himself of the reactions to such sinful activities.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:KB 69|Krsna Book 69]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Nāradajī knew everything about the pastimes of the Lord, so without further discussion he simply left the palace silently, in great astonishment over the Lord's activities. He then entered another palace. This time Nāradajī saw that Lord Kṛṣṇa was engaged as an affectionate father petting His small children. From there he entered another palace and saw Lord Kṛṣṇa preparing to take His bath. In this way, Saint Nārada entered each and every one of the sixteen thousand residential palaces of the queens of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and in each of them he found Kṛṣṇa engaged in different ways.</p>
<p>In one palace he found Kṛṣṇa offering oblations to the sacrificial fire and performing the ritualistic ceremonies of the Vedas as enjoined for householders. In another palace he found Kṛṣṇa performing the pañca-yajña sacrifice, which is compulsory for a householder. This yajña is also known as pañca-sūnā. Knowingly or unknowingly, everyone, especially the householder, commits five kinds of sinful activities. When we receive water from a water pitcher, we kill many germs that are in it. Similarly, when we use a grinding machine or eat food, we kill many germs. When sweeping a floor or igniting a fire we kill many germs, and when we walk on the street we kill many ants and other insects. Consciously or unconsciously, in all our different activities, we are killing. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every householder to perform the pañca-sūnā sacrifice to rid himself of the reactions to such sinful activities.</p>
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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG3813NewYorkMay201966_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="117" link="Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966" link_text="Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966">
<div class="heading">Suppose I am not willingly killing any animal, but unconsciously I am killing so many living entities by my walking, by my so many things. They are called pañca-yajñas in the Vedic... Killing of animal does not mean that if a man kills a cow or goat for eating, he is killing, and those who are vegetarian, they are not killing. They are also killing. A vegetable has also got life. So it is not the question of killing. It is the question of offering yajña.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966|Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">There are recommendation in these Vedas, pañca-yajña. Pañca-yajña means that unknowingly we are killing many living entities. Suppose we are... When we are walking on the street there are many ants who are being killed on the pressure of our shoes. So that is also counted as sin. In God's kingdom, in God's, I mean to say, state. Just like here you have to pay by your life if you kill one man. If you commit a murder, you have to repay this murdering sin by your own life. That is, of course, imperfect law, man-made law. Similarly, in God's law also, if you kill any living entity, you have to suffer for that, because in the God's eye there is no question of man or animal or ant or fly or something like that. Every living entity is the son of God. Now, suppose your father has got five sons. One of them is worthless, is doing nothing. And if the other son says, "My dear father, this son, your youngest son, or this son, is worthless. He is doing nothing. Let us kill him," will your father agree? Because he is worthless, will your father agree? No, he will say, "No, no, no. You have nothing to do. He is not harming you. He is eating my, my subsistence. I am paying for his subsistence. Why you should kill him?" So similarly, in this material nature, all these living entities in different forms, they have come for material enjoyment and everything is being supplied by the Supreme Lord. We have no right to kill them. We have no right. According to God's law, if one is conscious... The same thing: Just like the father will never agree to kill a worthless child by the competent boy... No.</p>
<p>So consciously or unconsciously, we are committing. Suppose I am not willingly killing any animal, but unconsciously I am killing so many living entities by my walking, by my so many things. They are called pañca-yajñas in the Vedic... So, and even if we do not kill animals, simply by eating vegetables, they are also life. It does not mean that vegetarians are not killing. They are also killing. The law is that a living entity lives by killing other living entities. That is the law. Those who have got hands, they are killing those who have got legs. Just like man is killing animal. The animal is eating the grass, those who have no legs. So this is the law. But our thing is that we have to offer yajña. Killing of animal does not mean that if a man kills a cow or goat for eating, he is killing, and those who are vegetarian, they are not killing. They are also killing. A vegetable has also got life. So it is not the question of killing. It is the question of offering yajña. It is the question of offering yajña.</p>
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonSB1852LosAngelesMay141973_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="261" link="Lecture on SB 1.8.52 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1973" link_text="Lecture on SB 1.8.52 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1973">
<div class="heading">There is pañca-sūnā-yajña. You have to perform yajña every day to counteract the sinful reaction of your imperceptible killings of animals.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 1.8.52 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1973|Lecture on SB 1.8.52 -- Los Angeles, May 14, 1973]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Bhūta-hatyā is also recognized here as sinful activities. As wine is sinful or impure—if not sinful, it is impure—bhūta-hatyā, killing of animal, is also sinful activities. So you cannot counteract by performing yajña, because in the yajña there is also another bhūta-hatyā.</p>
<p>So even there is no bhūta-hatyā... That is called pañca-sūnā-yajña, five kinds of imperceptible sinful activities. Just like when we are walking on the street, there are many ants and germs, they are being killed. I do not know, I do not wish to kill, but they are being killed. When you are igniting fire, in the fireplace, there are so many small ants. So as soon as you ignite, all those small ants—you cannot see—they die. Similarly, when you keep water, there are so many microbes and other living entities. So as you press on it, they die. Similarly, pestle and mortar. In India the system, they don't purchase...Those who are rigid family, they do not purchase these powdered spices. No. They bring whole spices and they smash it with mortar and pestle. That is very nice. So doing that smashing work, you kill so many animals. In breathing, you kill so many animals. In drinking water, you kill so many animals. This is bhūta-hatyā. You are killing. This is not intentional. You do not know. Therefore in a Vedic system there is prescription, pañca-sūnā-yajña. Pañca means five, and sūnā means bhūta-hatyā, or killing animals, sūnā. Striya-sūnā-pāna-dyūta ([[Vanisource:SB 1.17.38|SB 1.17.38]]). Sūnā. Sūnā means violence. So we prohibit these four kinds of sinful life: killing of animals and illicit sex... Striya, sūnā, and... Pañca-sūnā. Yes... Striya-sūnā-pāna. Pāna means intoxicants, and dyūta means gambling. So these are four kinds of sinful activities. So out of that, sūnā is one. That is also divided in many divisions, at least five. Willingly, we are not going to kill anybody, but unwillingly... Therefore there is pañca-sūnā-yajña. You have to perform yajña every day to counteract the sinful reaction of your imperceptible killings of animals. That's it. This is Vedic life.</p>
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