Bg 3.12
tair dattan apradayaibhyo
SYNONYMS
ishtan — desired; bhogan — necessities of life; hi — certainly; vah — unto you; devah — the demigods; dasyante — will award; yajna–bhavitah — being satisfied by the performance of sacrifices; taih — by them; dattan — things given; apradaya — without offering; ebhyah — to these demigods; yah — he who; bhunkte — enjoys; stenah — thief; eva — certainly; sah — he.
TRANSLATION
In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajna [sacrifice], will supply all necessities to you. But he who enjoys such gifts without offering them to the demigods in return is certainly a thief.
Ishtan bhogan hi vo deva; when we give the devatas in charge of our various desired necessities, they will provide (dasyante) through yajna-bhavitah. We will satisfy them by Yajna. Tair dattan means those things that are provided. Apradayaibhyo, if we do not offer those back to the devatas, yo bhunkte stena eva sah.
So Krishna is saying, if we do not participate in the system of cosmic cooperation, then we become thieves—yo bhunkte stena eva sah. Such people are thieves; those who take the water supply but do not pay the taxes, they are thieves. So similarly, if we don’t satisfy the devatas, then we become the thieves.
Now, if we look at the various Vedic sacrifices, sometimes it seems that devatas are depending on the Yajna performed by us. For example, in SB 7th Canto, Hiranyakashipu is saying if we stop all the Yajna, then devatas will starve. When they starve, they will become weak, and we will kill them. That is how I will become Supreme. So, are devatas dependent on human beings for their needs? Actually, heavens are far more sumptuously provided than earth. So, if we are saying that devatas are dependent on us, it is like saying America is dependent on a poor country like Somalia. This is not true.
We can see Krishna stopped Yajna for Indira. Indira was not starving, but Indra felt dishonored when yajna was denied. It was not a starving problem for Indra.
Similarly, in the case of Daksha Prajapati’s Yajna, Mother Sati was not disturbed because Lord Shiva would starve, but because respect was not shown to Lord Shiva. So the point is the acknowledgment of authorities. For example, when some guests come, we may offer a garland or do arathi. It is not that these things are a necessity for the guest, and he will die if he does not get them, but this is a way of giving respect. When a worshipable guest comes to our place, we need to respect them; that will purify us. If we don’t do that, it can be offensive. Similarly, if we don’t perform Yajna, it can be offensive from our side. If we are not respecting, then ultimately it will be disrespect to the Supreme Lord. Also, Krishna told the Vraj Vasis to stop Yajna not because He wanted to disrupt the system, but He wanted to check Indira’s pride. Devatas should take respect on behalf of the Supreme Lord, not think that they are the Supreme. Because Indira was temporarily thinking he is all in all, Krishna curbed his pride. However, Krishna didn’t disrupt the system of Yajna, as we can see here. He also wanted Yudhisthir Maharaj to perform Yajna. So if we try to enjoy separate from the Yajna system, then yo bhunkte stena eva sah; such a person is a thief.
Srila Prabhupada talked about Pancha Maha Yajna, five different types of Yajna performed to help people elevate. Why are these Yajnas required? Because there are five different ways in which people can inevitably perform bad Karma. When we light a fire, some living entities are killed; when we walk, some living beings are killed; when we put a pot of water, some living beings are killed. So even in normal day-to-day activities, some living beings are killed. The point is we all inevitably commit violence, and if we want to avoid Karmic consequences, then we have to perform these kinds of Yajnas. Of course, in Vedic times, we do Pancha Maha Yajna; in Kaliyuga, we perform Sankirtan Yajna.
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