Bg 3.13
yajna-sishtasinah santo
SYNONYMS
yajna–sishta — of food taken after performance of yajna; asinah — eaters; santah — the devotees; mucyante — get relief; sarva — all kinds of; kilbishaih — from sins; bhunjate — enjoy; te — they; tu — but; agham — grievous sins; papah — sinners; ye — who; pacanti — prepare food; atma–karanat — for sense enjoyment.
TRANSLATION
The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.
yajna-sishta, means remnants, ashina means to eat or accept
Santo, devotees
mucyante sarva-kilbishaih
mucyante, means liberated, kilbishaih, contaminated or sins
So by taking remnants of Yajna saintly persons become free from all sinful reactions
bhunjate te tv agham papa
So agham means sin, papa are the sinners
So who are the sinners
ye pacanty atma-karanat
Those who cook for atam karanat for their own purposes
So those who try to eat food for their own purposes they consume sin only.
So the point is actually in all cultures there has been some acknowledgement traditionally that we should offer some kind of prayer to higher being so Christians may offer grace they may fold their hands and pray so actually we should serve Supreme Lord …thank God for providing us food, so like that in different religions there may be different traditions, there may be different ways of acknowledging that the food we get is arranged by a higher beings it just doesn’t come by our own effort, our efforts are important no doubt but they are not all important, so when we offer food to Krishna what we are doing we are acknowledging that actually I have no capacity in producing food so you have provided this food and I am grateful for that so in that way when we offer food to Krishna yajna-sishta + asinah when we accept the food that we are offering to Krishna then we acknowledge Krishna mercy on us, and by that acknowledgement and by the devotional connection we established through that acknowledgement. Krishna frees us from sinful reactions, yajna-sishta + asinah santah.
That is why devotees take food that is offered to Krishna now when we talk about Prasad there are multiple standards of Prasad, the best Prasad is grains are cultivated by devotees farmers then the grains are transported by devotees businessmen, grains are cooked by devotees and the food is served by devotees and then food is honored by devotees so that is the best standard of Prasad if that is not possible then we have devotees cooking food and devotees honoring food of course none devotees can also honored and they will be purified, so generally Prasad is not just the food which is offered to Krishna, Prasad is food that is cooked to be offered to Krishna so in general we take prasadam that is cooked with intention of offer to Krishna so when we offer the food it becomes free from sinful reactions, so Vegetarianism is important but vegetarianism is not all important vegetarianism in itself will not free us from all sinful reactions and just vegetarianism doesn’t purify us it does minimize the sinful reaction that we get and also minimizes the huge amount of violence that happens today now a days through meat packing industries so all that can be minimized and avoided if people shift to vegetarian diet but the important point is even if the food is vegetarian bhunjate te tv agham papa, actually one is eating sin if one is not offering to Krishna therefore it is important that as a devotees we offer food to Sri Krishna so Prabhupada adopted different strategies, when Srila Prabhupada met a famous tennis player, Prabhupada saw that he was very influential Prabhupada said you elevate global consciousness and he gives subtel satvik prinicpals he talks about vegetarianism he talks about caring he talks about responsibility and Prabhupada told you do vegetarianism like that so then those who were in a position who will commit more for example there is a book perfect questions perfect answers there Bob met Srila Prabhupada and he said Swami Ji I am vegetarian, Prabhupada told him monkeys are also vegetarians what is big deal about it so from western standers being vegetarian is a remarkable achievement, Prabhupada acknowledge that but at the same time he said there was nothing great about that, point is we have to rise to higher standard and become consciousness of Krishna.
So as devotees the practical way in which we apply principle of Yajna is through taking Prasad so in the Vedic context in the Karma Kandi context the principle of Yajna will apply in a different way there will be fire sacrifice and through that remnants of fire sacrifice whatever that will be taken as Prasad, so now in our situation we have deities and we offer prayers to the deities we offer the Bhoga and then we take Prasad. So as earlier we have discussed there is a principle of Yajna and there is a form of Yajna, the principle is we offer for the Lord’s pleasure what we could have used for ourselves so when we cook we primarily cook because it is for Lord’s pleasure and then we take for ourselves so in this way we can also stay free from sinful reactions and we will be elevated and purified by the potencies of yajna-sishtasinah, the remanats of Yajna that is Prasad.
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