The best ritual

An action oriented person has a fancy for rituals. The Vedas describe several fire rituals called Yajnyas. These rituals are meant to provide a person with all material comforts as well as guarantee heavenly abode after death.

In a Yajnya, a priest kindles a sacred fire (Agni). 

In that fire he pours various offerings (Havis) using wooden ladle and other implements(ArpaNa).

As a result of this ritual, the person who performs it is supposed to get whatever results he wishes – wealth, progeny, heavenly abode etc.

But these rituals have two main drawbacks.

Firstly, the results they produce are short lived. They have a definite life cycle.

Secondly, these rituals bind a person to Karma or indelible impressions created on the minds of a person. This Karma leads to misery in the long run.

“So, the best ritual is to perform a Yajnya called Meditation or Dhyana.

During meditation, a person kindles the fire which is nothing but Brahma (the inner soul).

He pours offerings into this fire. Only difference being both the offerings as well as the implements used to pour them are nothing but the Brahma itself.

What is more, the person who performs this Yajnya is none other than Brahma himself.

Obviously, the ultimate goal of this entire process is nothing but the Brahma. “

What this means is that in the culminating stage of meditation, namely the samadhi, the one who meditates, the act of meditation, the object of meditation as well as the destination of meditation – all become Brahma or the supreme reality. The multiplicity just vanishes. And the result is eternal, unlike the material Yajnyas.

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Based on verse 4.24 of Bhagavad Geetha, one of the most quoted and widely translated of the ancient Indian scriptures, believed to have been composed by Vyasa as part of the great Indian Epic Mahabharata, 5000 years ago. The interpretation of the verses and audio recital are by Dr.King (Copyright © 2018 Dr. King)