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BG 09.16 aham kratur aham yajnah... cited

Bhagavad-gita As It Is

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 9.16, Translation and Purport:

But it is I who am the ritual, I the sacrifice, the offering to the ancestors, the healing herb, the transcendental chant. I am the butter and the fire and the offering.

The Vedic sacrifice known as Jyotiṣṭoma is also Kṛṣṇa, and He is also the Mahā-yajña mentioned in the smṛti. The oblations offered to the Pitṛloka or the sacrifice performed to please the Pitṛloka, considered as a kind of drug in the form of clarified butter, is also Kṛṣṇa. The mantras chanted in this connection are also Kṛṣṇa. And many other commodities made with milk products for offering in the sacrifices are also Kṛṣṇa. The fire is also Kṛṣṇa because fire is one of the five material elements and is therefore claimed as the separated energy of Kṛṣṇa. In other words, the Vedic sacrifices recommended in the karma-kāṇḍa division of the Vedas are in total also Kṛṣṇa. Or, in other words, those who are engaged in rendering devotional service unto Kṛṣṇa are to be understood to have performed all the sacrifices recommended in the Vedas.

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 9.15-18 -- New York, December 2, 1966:

So Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is describing about the fruitive activities, sacrifice. In sacrifice we require so many things. Dravya-yajña. By material things... We require clarified butter, we require grains, we require mantra, chanting, and fire. So many things we require. So Lord says,

ahaṁ kratur ahaṁ yajñaḥ
svadhāham aham auṣadham
mantro 'ham aham evājyam
aham agnir ahaṁ hutam

"Now, all this paraphernalia for sacrificing a yajña, for performing a sacrifice—the fire, the butter, the clarified, the wood, and the mantra and other paraphernalia—everything is Myself. Everything I am." That's true, because everything is produced by His energy. Anything, whatever you take, that's a transformation of energy. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktiḥ sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat: "Whatever you are seeing in the universal manifestation, they are simply manifestation of the different energy of the Supreme Lord." Just like in this room, this illumination is the energy of this light. Therefore we are seeing each, one another. Similarly, as the fire is placed in one place, but it distributes its heat and light, similarly, although the Lord is in His supreme abode, His energy is acting. The same example: just like the sun planet is far, far away, but its energy, sunshine, is all-over distributed, over the manifestation, material manifestation. So He's everything.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 22, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. But they won't, won't perform yajña.

Dr. Patel: No. And yajña means there is service to the humanity...

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. That is not...

Dr. Patel: "That is giving service to Kṛṣṇa," you'll say. "But humanity is Kṛṣṇa," I say.

Prabhupāda: No, no, no.

Dr. Patel: And then we quarrel! So we stop there. (laughs)

Prabhupāda: That's all.

Dr. Patel: Yajña...

Prabhupāda: Yajñārthe karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). (Hindi)

Dr. Patel: Wrong, wrong fully is not yajña.

Prabhupāda: What is wrong fully? Everyone is trying. The state is trying.

Dr. Patel: Everything is God. Ahaṁ kratur ahaṁ yajñaḥ ahaṁ ghṛtam. "Everything I am." That is Kṛṣṇa, no? And in the very next verse He says...

Prabhupāda: But when there is remembrance of Kṛṣṇa.

Dr. Patel: That is right.

Prabhupāda: Aham. That "aham" must be there.

Dr. Patel: In the name of God, you do, and you forget that you are doing. Two things, that is yajña. That you are not the performer...

Prabhupāda: Not... No, you cannot, you cannot manufacture yajña. The yajña-vidhi is there. In the Vedas, śāstras. You cannot say that "I am doing for God. That is yajña." Yajña-vidhi. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ, na sukhaṁ sa avāpnoti (BG 16.23). He cannot get happiness if he derides śāstra, yajña-vidhi. You cannot manufacture yajña-vidhi.

Morning Walk -- April 2, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Difficult... The jñāna-yoga... Indirectly. They are bhajante mām, but in a different way. And the mahātmās, those who are bhaktas, they are directly in the way. And they are indirectly, in this way.

Dr. Patel: Ekatvena pṛthaktvena bahudhā viśvato-mukham.

Prabhupāda: Ah. Ekatvena: "Now, I am, I am God."

Dr. Patel: Pṛthaktvena. Bahudhā viśvato-mukham.

Prabhupāda: Pantheism, pantheism, bahudhā. Bahudhā means God has become pantheism.

Dr. Patel:

ahaṁ kratur ahaṁ yajñaḥ
svadhāham aham auṣadham
mantro 'ham aham evājyam
aham agir ahaṁ hutam
(BG 9.16)

Prabhupāda: Yes. "Everything is I. Everything is I." Because it is His energy, therefore He is. Śakti-śaktimator abhedaḥ. The energy and the energetic, they are identical.

Dr. Patel:

pitāham asya jagato
mātā dhātā pitāmahaḥ
vedyaṁ pavitram oṁkāra
ṛk sāma yajur eva ca
(BG 9.17)

Prabhupāda: Yes. "Everything, these Vedas, that I am." Vedaiś cāham, aham eva vedyaḥ. So these... There are rascals. They claim that "We are Vedic student. We don't believe in Kṛṣṇa. We don't believe in Bhagavad-gītā." You know this rascal society?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- December 31, 1976, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Muslims are also restricted... (break) ...for some purpose. Therefore they are called karmīs. Actually, it is for satisfying Viṣṇu. Without Viṣṇu's satisfaction nothing can be done. So those who are desiring some material grants, they used to perform this ritualistic ceremonies. It is not for the devotee.

Dr. Patel: For devotee, Kṛṣṇa has said, "I am yajña, and I am also hutam, and I am also performer of yajña."

Prabhupāda: Yes. Because he gives the intelligence. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Unless He gives smṛti, he cannot chant the mantra. "Therefore actually I am performer."

Dr. Patel: Ahaṁ kratur ahaṁ yajñaḥ...

Prabhupāda: Therefore He says "I am performer. If I give him instruction, he does something, so he is not doing. I am doing. I say, 'Do like this,' and he does like that, then he's not performer, I am performer." So whatever mantra they are chanting, if Kṛṣṇa does not give him intelligence, he cannot do that. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ. Mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (BG 15.15). Everyone, whatever we are doing, it is being supplied, the intelligence, the everything, but according to my desires. I cannot do anything independent. Just like we are constructing, practically, with the sanction of the municipality, the sanction of the government. Independently I cannot do. Similarly, we cannot anything without sanction of God. But that sanction is ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11). I insist, "God give me this facility, give me this facility." "All right. You do it at your risk." But God says, that "You don't do this." Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam (BG 18.66). "What I say, you do. Then you'll be happy. What I dictate you do. But you are dictating Me. Because you are my son, what can I do? All right. Do it."

Page Title:BG 09.16 aham kratur aham yajnah... cited
Compiler:Visnu Murti
Created:06 of Apr, 2011
Totals by Section:BG=1, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=3, Let=0
No. of Quotes:5