Clarified butter (Lect, Conv and Letters)

Expressions researched:
"clarified butter"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

If we want to perform such yajñas for sacrificing clarified butter, grains, there are different, so many kinds of yajñas. It is not possible in this age.

Lecture on BG 3.8-13 -- New York, May 20, 1966: Now, God or God's agent is supplying you so many things, and if you do not acknowledge or repay by sacrifice, then what is your position? Yo bhuṅkte. "One who enjoys," stena eva saḥ, "he is a thief." He is a thief, therefore, punishable. As a thief is punishable by the state law, similarly, one who takes advantage of these natural facilities and do not acknowledge it and do not offer sacrifice to the Supreme, then he is considered to be a thief. It is said in the Bhagavad-gītā, stena eva saḥ [Bg. 3.12]. So yajña-śiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarva-kilbiṣaiḥ. So, we are becoming debtors and debtors life after life in this way, and the only way to liquidate our so many debts is to perform yajña.

Now, there are different rituals of yajña. If we want to perform such yajñas for sacrificing clarified butter, grains, there are different, so many kinds of yajñas. It is not possible in this age. For this age, the particular type of sacrifice which is recommended, we had some sample of it yesterday in our, this loft. Yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ [SB 11.5.32]. In this age it is very difficult to perform all those rituals. First thing, it is very difficult to obtain all the ingredients for sacrificing method. And people are not very well to do. They cannot secure also.

So, as the Bhagavad-gītā prescribes, that you have to perform yajña, now, don't be afraid that you have to perform the same kind of yajña as it was being performed in the Tretā-yuga or Dvāpara-yuga by offering thousands and thousands of mounds of clarified butter and grains.

Lecture on BG 3.16-17 -- New York, May 25, 1966: Now, for this age... Kṛte yad dhyāyato viṣṇuṁ tretāyāṁ yajato makhaiḥ. Now, different ages, different methods are prescribed. So for this age, it is prescribed that kalau tad dhari-kīrtanāt. Whatever was possible to perform in the Satya-yuga by meditation and the Tretā-yuga by offering of great, I mean to say, costly sacrifices, and in the Dvāpara-yuga by offering prayers or arcanā in the temple, that can be made possible easily by hari-kīrtana, by chanting the holy name of God. That is the prescription.

So, as the Bhagavad-gītā prescribes, that you have to perform yajña, now, don't be afraid that you have to perform the same kind of yajña as it was being performed in the Tretā-yuga or Dvāpara-yuga by offering thousands and thousands of mounds of clarified butter and grains. That is not possible. Nobody can secure all those ingredients at the present moment. Neither it is recommended. In the Kali-yuga it is recommended that one can perform the saṅkīrtana-yajña. That will give him the same result which was derived by meditation in Satya-yuga.

The sacrificial altar, fire, and the offering ingredients, grains and clarified butter, and the person who is offering sacrifice, three, and the result and the performer: These five things are there in the matter of sacrifice.

Lecture on BG 4.20-24 -- New York, August 9, 1966: Supposing that it is your proprietorship, you are the proprietor of everything, but you sacrifice, yajñārthe. Yajñārthe means "for the Supreme Lord." So so many sacrifices are recommended in various scriptures. So we shall try to discuss some of the sacrifices. Yajñāyācarataḥ karma samagraṁ pravilīyate. If we perform our duties, yajña, for the matter of satisfaction of Viṣṇu, the Supreme Lord, then we shall not be bound up by the reaction of any work.

Now, the first thing is in the sacrifice according to the Vedic rites, there are five principle factors. What are those? There is sacrificial fire, altar, and the person who is offering the... Generally, in the sacrifice grains and butter, clarified butter, is offered. So the sacrificial altar, fire, and the offering ingredients, grains and clarified butter, and the person who is offering sacrifice, three, and the result and the performer. These five things are there in the matter of sacrifice.