Bg 4.27
sarvāṇīndriya-karmāṇi
prāṇa-karmāṇi cāpare
ātma-saṁyama-yogāgnau
juhvati jñāna-dīpite
Bg 4.28
dravya-yajñās tapo-yajñā
yoga-yajñās tathāpare
svādhyāya-jñāna-yajñāś ca
yatayaḥ saṁśita-vratāḥ
Bg 4.29
apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe ’pānaṁ tathāpare
prāṇāpāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ
Translation:
27. Others again sacrifice all the functions of the senses and the functions of the breath (vital energy) in the fire of the YOGA of self-restraint, kindled by knowledge.
28. Others again offer wealth, austerity and YOGA as sacrifice, while the ascetics of self-restraint and rigid vows offer study of scriptures and knowledge as sacrifice.
29. Others offer as sacrifice the out-going breath in the in-coming, and the in-coming in the out-going, restraining the courses of the out-going and in-coming breaths, solely absorbed in the restraint of breath.
Commentary Excerpts:
The "Path-of-Discrimination" (Vichara) lies through a constant attempt at distinguishing between the limited lot of the ego and the divine destinies of the Spirit. Having discriminated thus, to live more and more as the Self, and not as the ego, is to "RESTRAIN THE SELF BY THE SELF (Atma-Samyama)." By this process, it is evident how the mad ramblings of the organs of perceptions and actions can be completely restrained and entirely conquered.
OFFERING OF WEALTH (Dravya-Yajna) --- Sacrifice of wealth is to be understood in its largest connotation. Charity and distribution of honestly acquired wealth, in a sincere spirit of devotion to and in the service of the community, or of the individual who is the recipient of the benevolence, is called Dravya-Yajna. This includes more than a mere offering of money or food.
The term Dravya includes everything that we possess, not only in the world outside but also in our worlds of emotions and ideas. To pursue thus a life of charity, serving the world as best as we can, with all that we possess physically, mentally and intellectually is the noble sacrifice called "Wealth sacrifice."
In order to perform this it is not at all necessary that the devotee should be materially rich. Sometimes, a word of sincere sympathy, a look of love, a smile of true affection, or a word registering true friendship, can give to the receiver more than a heartless cheque, even if it be for a very fat sum.
Tapo-yajna --- Some live, offering unto their Lord, a life of austerity. There is no religion in the world which does not prescribe, by some method or the other, periods of austere living. These austerities (Vratas) are invariably undertaken in the name of the Lord. It is very well-known that the Lord of Compassion, who feeds and sustains even the lowliest of the low, can gain no special joy because of a devotee's self-denial. But it is generally done in a spirit of dedication, so that the seeker might achieve some self-control. This activity, in some extreme cases very painful indeed, is undertaken in order that the devotee may learn to control himself in his sense-life.
Yoga-yajna --- An earnest attempt of the lesser in us to grow into a better standard of diviner living, is called Yoga. In this attempt, devoted worship of the Lord-of-the-heart, called Upasana, is a primary method. This worship and love, offered to the Lord-of-the-heart, when performed without any desire or motive, is also called Yoga, since it directly hastens the seeker's self-development.
Swadhyaya-yajna --- The daily deep study of the scriptures is called Swadhyaya. Without a complete study of the scriptures we will not be in a position to know the logic of what we are doing in the name of spiritual practice, and without this knowledge our practices cannot gain the edge and the depth that are essential for sure progress. Thus, in all religions, the daily study of the scriptures is insisted upon, as an essential training during the seeker's early days. Even after Self-realisation, we find that the Sages spend all their spare-time reading and contemplating upon the inexhaustible wealth of details and suggestions in the scriptures.
In its subjective implications, Swadhyaya means "self-study including the art of introspection pursued for understanding our own inner weaknesses." If, in the case of a seeker, it is a technique of estimating his own spiritual progress, in the case of a Seer, it will be for revelling in his own Self.
Jnana-yajna --- The Sacrifice-of-Knowledge: this word has very often been used in the Geeta and it constitutes one of the many original terms coined out by Vyasa to beautify the Lord's declarations. The "Sacrifice-of-Knowledge" is the term given to that activity in man by which he renounces all his ignorance into the fire-of-knowledge kindled BY him, IN him. This is constituted of two aspects; negation of the false, and assertion of the Real Nature of the Self. These two activities are effectively undertaken during the seeker's meditation.
All these five methods of Self-development --- " sacrifice-of-wealth," "austerity," "Yoga," "study" and "knowledge" --- can be practised with profit only by those who are men of "rigid determination" and who can find in themselves an inexhaustible enthusiasm to apply themselves consistently to reach this great goal. It is not sufficient that we know these paths, or that we decide to gain these developments. Progress in spirituality can come only to one who is "sincere and consistent in his practices" (Yatayah).
In the verse 29, we have a description of the technique of 'breath-control' regularly practised by some seekers, in order to keep themselves under perfect self-control, when they move amidst the sense-objects in the work-a-day world.
As a sacrifice some offer "THE OUT-GOING BREATH INTO THE IN-COMING BREATH AND OTHERS OFFER THE IN-COMING INTO THE OUT-GOING." The latter is, in the technique of Pranayama, called the Puraka, meaning the 'process of filing in'; while, the former is the 'process of blowing out,' technically called the Rechaka. These two processes are alternated with an interval, wherein the 'breath is held for sometime,' within and without, which is called the Kumbhaka. This process of Puraka-Kumbhaka-Rechaka-Kumbhaka, when practised in a prescribed ratio, becomes the technique of breath-control (Pranayama). This technique is again explained here as a Yajna by which the practitioner, in the long run, learns to offer all the subsidiary Pranas into the main Prana.
Prana is not the breath; this is a general misunderstanding. Through breath-control we come to gain a perfect mastery over the activities of the Pranas in us. When very closely observed, we find that the term Prana used in the Hindu Scriptures indicates the various "manifested activities of life in a living body." They generally enumerate five different kinds of Pranas, which, when understood correctly, are found to be nothing but the five different physiological-functions in every living body.
They are: (1) the function of perception, (2) the function of excretion, (3) the function of digestion and assimilation, (4) the circulatory system, which distributes the food to all parts of the body, and lastly (5) the capacity in a living-creature to improve himself in his mental outlook and intellectual life. These activities of life within, about which an ordinary man is quite unconscious, are brought under the perfect control of the individual through the process of Pranayama, so that a seeker can, by this path, come to gain a complete capacity to withdraw all his perceptions. This is indeed a great help to a meditator.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
sarvāṇīndriya-karmāṇi
prāṇa-karmāṇi cāpare
ātma-saṁyama-yogāgnau
juhvati jñāna-dīpite
Bg 4.28
dravya-yajñās tapo-yajñā
yoga-yajñās tathāpare
svādhyāya-jñāna-yajñāś ca
yatayaḥ saṁśita-vratāḥ
Bg 4.29
apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ prāṇe ’pānaṁ tathāpare
prāṇāpāna-gatī ruddhvā prāṇāyāma-parāyaṇāḥ
Translation:
27. Others again sacrifice all the functions of the senses and the functions of the breath (vital energy) in the fire of the YOGA of self-restraint, kindled by knowledge.
28. Others again offer wealth, austerity and YOGA as sacrifice, while the ascetics of self-restraint and rigid vows offer study of scriptures and knowledge as sacrifice.
29. Others offer as sacrifice the out-going breath in the in-coming, and the in-coming in the out-going, restraining the courses of the out-going and in-coming breaths, solely absorbed in the restraint of breath.
Commentary Excerpts:
The "Path-of-Discrimination" (Vichara) lies through a constant attempt at distinguishing between the limited lot of the ego and the divine destinies of the Spirit. Having discriminated thus, to live more and more as the Self, and not as the ego, is to "RESTRAIN THE SELF BY THE SELF (Atma-Samyama)." By this process, it is evident how the mad ramblings of the organs of perceptions and actions can be completely restrained and entirely conquered.
OFFERING OF WEALTH (Dravya-Yajna) --- Sacrifice of wealth is to be understood in its largest connotation. Charity and distribution of honestly acquired wealth, in a sincere spirit of devotion to and in the service of the community, or of the individual who is the recipient of the benevolence, is called Dravya-Yajna. This includes more than a mere offering of money or food.
The term Dravya includes everything that we possess, not only in the world outside but also in our worlds of emotions and ideas. To pursue thus a life of charity, serving the world as best as we can, with all that we possess physically, mentally and intellectually is the noble sacrifice called "Wealth sacrifice."
In order to perform this it is not at all necessary that the devotee should be materially rich. Sometimes, a word of sincere sympathy, a look of love, a smile of true affection, or a word registering true friendship, can give to the receiver more than a heartless cheque, even if it be for a very fat sum.
Tapo-yajna --- Some live, offering unto their Lord, a life of austerity. There is no religion in the world which does not prescribe, by some method or the other, periods of austere living. These austerities (Vratas) are invariably undertaken in the name of the Lord. It is very well-known that the Lord of Compassion, who feeds and sustains even the lowliest of the low, can gain no special joy because of a devotee's self-denial. But it is generally done in a spirit of dedication, so that the seeker might achieve some self-control. This activity, in some extreme cases very painful indeed, is undertaken in order that the devotee may learn to control himself in his sense-life.
Yoga-yajna --- An earnest attempt of the lesser in us to grow into a better standard of diviner living, is called Yoga. In this attempt, devoted worship of the Lord-of-the-heart, called Upasana, is a primary method. This worship and love, offered to the Lord-of-the-heart, when performed without any desire or motive, is also called Yoga, since it directly hastens the seeker's self-development.
Swadhyaya-yajna --- The daily deep study of the scriptures is called Swadhyaya. Without a complete study of the scriptures we will not be in a position to know the logic of what we are doing in the name of spiritual practice, and without this knowledge our practices cannot gain the edge and the depth that are essential for sure progress. Thus, in all religions, the daily study of the scriptures is insisted upon, as an essential training during the seeker's early days. Even after Self-realisation, we find that the Sages spend all their spare-time reading and contemplating upon the inexhaustible wealth of details and suggestions in the scriptures.
In its subjective implications, Swadhyaya means "self-study including the art of introspection pursued for understanding our own inner weaknesses." If, in the case of a seeker, it is a technique of estimating his own spiritual progress, in the case of a Seer, it will be for revelling in his own Self.
Jnana-yajna --- The Sacrifice-of-Knowledge: this word has very often been used in the Geeta and it constitutes one of the many original terms coined out by Vyasa to beautify the Lord's declarations. The "Sacrifice-of-Knowledge" is the term given to that activity in man by which he renounces all his ignorance into the fire-of-knowledge kindled BY him, IN him. This is constituted of two aspects; negation of the false, and assertion of the Real Nature of the Self. These two activities are effectively undertaken during the seeker's meditation.
All these five methods of Self-development --- " sacrifice-of-wealth," "austerity," "Yoga," "study" and "knowledge" --- can be practised with profit only by those who are men of "rigid determination" and who can find in themselves an inexhaustible enthusiasm to apply themselves consistently to reach this great goal. It is not sufficient that we know these paths, or that we decide to gain these developments. Progress in spirituality can come only to one who is "sincere and consistent in his practices" (Yatayah).
In the verse 29, we have a description of the technique of 'breath-control' regularly practised by some seekers, in order to keep themselves under perfect self-control, when they move amidst the sense-objects in the work-a-day world.
As a sacrifice some offer "THE OUT-GOING BREATH INTO THE IN-COMING BREATH AND OTHERS OFFER THE IN-COMING INTO THE OUT-GOING." The latter is, in the technique of Pranayama, called the Puraka, meaning the 'process of filing in'; while, the former is the 'process of blowing out,' technically called the Rechaka. These two processes are alternated with an interval, wherein the 'breath is held for sometime,' within and without, which is called the Kumbhaka. This process of Puraka-Kumbhaka-Rechaka-Kumbhaka, when practised in a prescribed ratio, becomes the technique of breath-control (Pranayama). This technique is again explained here as a Yajna by which the practitioner, in the long run, learns to offer all the subsidiary Pranas into the main Prana.
Prana is not the breath; this is a general misunderstanding. Through breath-control we come to gain a perfect mastery over the activities of the Pranas in us. When very closely observed, we find that the term Prana used in the Hindu Scriptures indicates the various "manifested activities of life in a living body." They generally enumerate five different kinds of Pranas, which, when understood correctly, are found to be nothing but the five different physiological-functions in every living body.
They are: (1) the function of perception, (2) the function of excretion, (3) the function of digestion and assimilation, (4) the circulatory system, which distributes the food to all parts of the body, and lastly (5) the capacity in a living-creature to improve himself in his mental outlook and intellectual life. These activities of life within, about which an ordinary man is quite unconscious, are brought under the perfect control of the individual through the process of Pranayama, so that a seeker can, by this path, come to gain a complete capacity to withdraw all his perceptions. This is indeed a great help to a meditator.
Sources: Vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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