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Chapter 3: Karma-yoga

Bg 3.11
TEXT 11
devan bhavayatanena
te deva bhavayantu vah
parasparam bhavayantah
sreyah param avapsyatha
SYNONYMS
devän—demigods; bhävayata—having been pleased; anena—by this sacrifice; te—those; deväù—the demigods; bhävayantu—will please; vaù—you; parasparam—mutual; bhävayantaù—pleasing one another; sreyaù—benediction; param—the supreme; aväpsyatha—do you achieve.
TRANSLATION
The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you; thus nourishing one another, there will reign general prosperity for all.
PURPORT
The demigods are empowered administrators of material affairs. The supply of air, light, water and all other benedictions for maintaining the body and soul of every living entity are entrusted to the demigods, who are innumerable assistants in different parts of the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Their pleasures and displeasures are dependant on the performance of yajïas by the human being. Some of the yajïas are meant to satisfy particular demigods; but even in so doing, Lord Viñëu is worshiped in all yajïas as the chief beneficiary. It is stated also in the Bhagavad-gétä that Kåñëa Himself is the beneficiary of all kinds of yajïas: bhoktäraà yajïa-tapasäm. Therefore, ultimate satisfaction of the yajïapati is the chief purpose of all yajïas. When these yajïas are perfectly performed, naturally the demigods in charge of the different departments of supply are pleased, and there is no scarcity in the supply of natural products.
Performance of yajïas has many side benefits, ultimately leading to liberation from the material bondage. By performance of yajïas, all activities become purified, as it is stated in the Vedas:
ähära-çuddhau sattva-çuddhiù sattva-çuddhau
dhruvä småtiù småti-lambhe sarva-granthénäà vipra-mokñaù
As it will be explained in the following verse, by performance of yajïa, one's eatables become sanctified, and by eating sanctified foodstuffs, one's very existence becomes purified; by the purification of existence, finer tissues in the memory become sanctified, and when memory is sanctified, one can think of the path of liberation, and all these combined together lead to Kåñëa consciousness, the great necessity of present-day society.

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Copyright (c) 1972 by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada