Buying Yagyas for the World at Large

Anyone ever do this?

Most people buy yagyas for their own benefit, but,

one also can make their samkalpam something like -

for all humans to develop siddhis, or

for all living beings to experience bliss,

or for all living beings to have freedom from samskara.

So how about it?

 

my family is part of a group that prays for world peace every tuesday.

you can do the samething every tuesday, if you get enough positive thoughts into the world, we could do some good.

 

Buying?

 

You mean paying for prayers to be said or something like that?

If so, I'd say it had no value whatsoever. Other than keeping professionally 'religious' people in a job.

 

You've never heard of buying yagyas from pundits?

 

yeah...its a Vedic fire sacrifice. Traditionally money would be paid by a patron (yajamana) to a Brahmin pundit to construct a fire alter of some sort (depending on the particular sacrifice) and perform a yajna. Quite an elaborate fire sacrifice with animal sacrifice (or now a day more a vegetable substitute), soma, and chanting of the Vedas

We watched a video on it in class about a Agni Chaiana yajna done in the 70s which seamed to suggest these weren't really done anymore really...


...the original point of them, as you stated, was for oneself and usually it was to gain some kind of physical means or practical means...such as a son or good harvest, ect...

 

yes, according to the vedic tradition, it is well within brahminical code for priests to prostitute themselves out

 

"if you want to loose your faith make friends with a priest" - Gurdjieff.

 

Priests are given a guru dakshina. It is not prostitution or any other type of endeavor.

 

Where I come from it's never called buying. The priests are invited, they perform the ritual and a part of the ritual is to give donations of wealth and food to priests - not necessarily only the ones that perform the ritual.
The yajaman is in fact considered the one who performs the ceremony and the priest is only there to guide him in the steps to be performed. The rituals, in their true form, are complex and require a lot of effort to learn them correctly. Then he also has to be able to teach the yajaman and others the meaning, the significance of the rites. It takes at least a decade of study to able to do all that correctly.

How come it is considered corrupt or "prostitution" if a priest is paid for his services, whereas the same thing is acceptable from any other profession? Priests have families to support and expnses to meet. They provide a service that is very valuable (at least to those who avail themselves of it) and there is NOTHING wrong with being remunerated for that. If it is prostitution for a priest to take money, what do you call it when a doctor charges thousands of dollars to save someone's life? What do you call it when a mechant charges money for food?

 

I call it capitalism.

 

Hare Krishna!

What a fall for a wise and learned man like CCP ! It is a pity, it appears that he derives sick pleasure from such indecent remarks. What's wrong, Chief ? Please do not further try to justify your point. You can very easily do that and you know that. But the fact won't change that such observations don't do any good to anybody including yourself.

Love,
Kumar.

 

lol. Most prob. was ancient capitalism. Though there was a spiritual value I'm sure to the ritual...there's also that part of making money...a la old Church indulgences (not saying they are the same thing but culturally the same vein).

 

Hare Krishna !

From BBB.....

I call it capitalism.


Dignity of labour.... if it is called capitalism, so be it.

Love,

Kumar.

 

If you think it is about the money, then you have no idea.
You have no idea the dedication these people put in to learning to chant the vedic mantras and the vedas. And you have no idea the comfort they provide for a person's family by reciting the puranas at weddings, at upanayanams or even at funerals.
It is not easy to understand how much dedication these priests put in to chanting vedic mantras until you see it with your own eyes as I have
Not alot of people have that kind of discipline in their lives.
Also, It is easy to claim that the trauma surgeon who works 80 hours per week constantly without enough sleep or food is just doing for the big pay day at the end, but you really have to see them do it with your own eyes to appreciate the work.

 

Exactly, Jedi. It is full time work, it takes great dedication and effort. So either they accept money for their services or starve.

I don't call it capitalism, it is an exchange of services. In olden days people would give the priests grain, cows, produce, etc. in exchange for their services. Now they give money, which is the medium of exchange.

 

I wouldn't call it indulgences, my ancestors lived like that. My grandfather who lived like that wasn't paid in much money, he was paid in grain and some money. I know it personally because my dad's brotherinlaw in India still does chanting of puranas, weddings, and manages a temple. He is 80 years old, his wife is 70 something, he still wakes up at 5:00 am in the morning to start his religious duties- which end with sunset after which he sees one TV show about Hanuman (Not his TV, his neighbor's TV) and then he goes back to meditating. He doesn't get much- just grain and he gets something from the temple donations to feed himself and my aunt, and rent from tenents who live in his old home (Who don't pay him on regular basis). He manages but he is very happy with his life. He is always in thought of Gopala.
Also, it is not like he can demand a rate. I know some newer swamis do that, but he doesn't. He takes what he gets. The last purana he recited was a garuda purana after a funeral (which is done for a couple of days), the son of the man who died said he can provide him a month's worth of grain and one-a-day men's vitamins. He said it is fine and provided him the services.

So, where is the indulgence here? Getting some money to feed the body, so that he can be constantly in Govinda's thought and also do the little he can to provide some family some comfort? Is that the indulgence he is getting himself into? Eating food?

 

I didn't say it was an indulgence...I just said that it was an economic thing sometimes, lke an indulgence. Of course there's incredible spirituality and love involved...I'm just saying that because its human set up and run there will be some kind of money exchanged for maintenance...LIKE how indulgence boxes were set up for Christian pillgrimage sites in the middle ages to pay to maintain the churches, shrines, ect. I was just commenting on BBB saying that it was capitalism...and in that respect it sort of is...b/c even if there is great spiritual value to it, and the priests are really into what they do...there is still going to be some kindo f money exchanged for someone to make a living. There has to be to the priest would starve. And if it became corrupt (and we can't kid ourselves...I'm sure it did in some places)...it could turn into a lucritive kind of money making thing...

Just seeing the other point of view...that's all.

 

Oh you mean their name was indulgence boxes? I guess "indulgence" is what they are called :&

Oh sorry about that, I didn't know the history behind it. I thought you guys were accusing priests of indulgence in money , materialistic lifestyle... the flip side to it is, they only so much to support themselves. Anyway, I understand, it is turning into a lucrative business for some younger swamis, who are now driving big cars in India. Sigh.

 

Jedi, I think you mean pujaris. Swamis (sanyasis) don't generally perform rituals.