Faith of Farce?

In the month of October, during the nine days of Navratri, Chandi Homam is carried out at all parts of India. As a part of sacrifice, innumerable jewels, saris and immeasurable quantities of food grains are offered into the sacrificial fire. Though this is all done in good faith, I fail to believe that anybody would reap the benefits of such a sacrifice. In today’s world, when people don’t have clothes to wear or food to eat, children roam around the streets for want of a few morsels to fill their starving stomach, how would such a waste of resources be justifiable? Besides, there is no account of the pollution this yagnya causes. Instead, if all these were distributed among the poor or children were fed the same grains, we would definitely make this world a beter place to live in.

I too have faith in God but I firmly believe that service to community is the best method of saluting the Lord. After all, who gave us these grains, the cotton to spin yarn or milk to prepare ghee? Isn’t God the creator of all these? Why then do we have to offer his own things back to him? Who gave us the right to burn his own creation on the pretext of worshipping him? If we are true bhaktas, we must respect all that He has given us and help in preserving the nature.

In the ninth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna says “Those who follow ritual religion and perform action with some interested motive as laid down by the Vedas, do seek access to heaven. However, when the stock of their merits is exhausted, they fall back into the cycle of birth and death.” If we want to rise above rebirth, then we must indulge in selfless service in the name of the Lord. We can do whatever little is possible for us by educating the poor children, giving food at the orphanages, distributing clothes among the lesser privileged, or simply spreading joy by spending some time talking to the aged in the old-age homes. We must always keep in mind that we are all messengers of God and our prime duty is to pass the message of love. We must feel obliged to do good to others without expecting anything in return. This is the only way we can show our gratitude to the Lord.

If we dedicate our services to the needy always chanting the Lord’s name, we need no yagnya to please Him. A person who is focused on Krsna alone is the one who attains Nirvana. He who carries out his duties keeping the supreme Lord in mind, thinks of himself as an object in the hands of the Lord, remembers always that he is a medium to spreads goodness and joy to the world; he alone is a true devotee of the Lord.

I wish the learned and the educated understand that service to man is worship to God.