Bg 3.15

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi
brahmākṣara-samudbhavam
tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma
nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

Word for word: 

karma — work; brahma — from the Vedas; udbhavam — produced; viddhi — you should know; brahma — the Vedas; akṣara — from the Supreme Brahman (Personality of Godhead); samudbhavam — directly manifested; tasmāt — therefore; sarva–gatam — all-pervading; brahma — transcendence; nityam — eternally; yajñe — in sacrifice; pratiṣṭhitam — situated.

Translation: 

Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

 

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi, from where does Karma come from, karma is prescribed in the Vedas, so here the word Brahma refers to Vedas. Word Brahma can have many meanings, 

brahmākṣara-samudbhavam so ākṣara refers to Supreme Lord. That Lord which is infallible that Lord who never deteriorates. So the Vedas comes from absolute truth ākṣara, 

tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma, therefore all pervading Brahma 

nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam, is always situated in Yajna, 

So we will discuss the last part but first let us discuss the cyclic sequence which precedes that:

So we are currently looking at second section of BG

3.1-310: KarmaYoga is better than Jana Yoga

3.10-3.16: If you are not qualified even for Karma Yoga then practice Karma Kanda

 

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi

brahmākṣara-samudbhavam

tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma

nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

 

See Anna & Bhutani

annād bhavanti bhūtāni

So where does living entities gets subsistance from? From Anya

parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ

Rains produces grains

yajñād bhavati parjanyo

Yajna produces rains

yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ

Yajna comes from Karma (we will discuss this causal connection later)

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi

Karma is told to us in Vedas.

So Krishna doesn’t complete the cycle over here but in next verse he used evaṁ pravartitaṁ cakraṁ, so the Chakra is completed when the living entities come to know about the Vedas and lives according to Vedas (So cycle between Bhutani and  Vedas is not completed or explained here) but how it is concluded when the living entity learns to live according to Vedas and do their Karma and perform Yajna 

 

So earlier we had discussed how yajnaYajan produces rain.

So to understand this further how the mechanistic explanation and personal explanation are not contradictory but complementary the mechanist means based on mechanical, personist means there are person beings in charge.

Example in Billiard board if someone is having a top view of the camera which captures only board then with in board one will practically never see players, all one will see is the interaction between sticks and balls and all the movement on the board will be as per laws of mechanics e.g. stick hit at this ball in this angleangel then it goes to the hole. So all these laws of mechanics are correct but it doesn’t offer the complete information although the information is correct. What they are not able to see is the expertise and training of the player and also players desire that he wanted to hithis some ball through this ball. So both the explanation are complementary they are not contradictory similarly rains falling because of particular mechanism is correct but it is not complete so mechanist and personalistic information don’t have to be contradictory it can also be complementary.

 

So now going back to this chart:

yajñād bhavati parjanyo

 

yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ, What does it means? That the Karma is not just our worldly obligations, but a part of Karma is to do Yajna. In today’stodays society many people thinks that it is theirthere duty to take care of family members, to take care of themselves, relatives, and they think that this is our duty this is what God told us to do and this is what will do. Yes that is definitely true. That we have to do but that is not complete scope of our duties. Actually taking care of one’s children or family members, that even animals do that in many ways. So that alone doesn’t complete scope of human duties. Human duties involve rising to a higher level. Where we take care of not just other’s bodies, but take care of other’s soul also, and similarly not only our body but our souls also. 

SP mentioned that parents taking care of children isin natural and necessarynecssariy but isit not spiritual…in nature we can find for example weaver bird, when baby birds are born she bird will stay in nest male bird will bring food and first she bird will give it to children and then she eats but when children become bigger male bird has to supply more and more food for all, and one day it will come exhausted and tell she bird that he alone cannot do this. So so she also has to work and then both of them will start working and they will cover nest and only a small hole will be there, inside nest children of different size will be there so some eggs are hatched earlier,  so when parents comes and drop food the Senior children will catch the food but they don’t eat food, first they give it to younger birds and then later take themselves. So this affection among family members isare in nature also. Even spirit sacrifice is there in animals also, but if we live only at that level then we are not utilizing human lifelive. So Karma is not just taking care of our family members. That is important we have to do that but we also have to connect with God. This is a privilegeprevilage to human life so by Yajna we can establish vertical relationship with God (horizontal is with other living entities).

yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ, samudbhavaḥ means born along with that concomitant with that so along with Karma is Yajna included so we shouldn’t think that that when we go to temple or chant we are doing some favour to God, actually I don’t have to do that just being a good person I am doing that, it is part of our duty as human beings, to take care of our material as well as spiritual side., 

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi, so from where will wewe will come to know about Karma, we will come to know about Karma from ShastraShashtra. 

So Karma comes from Vedas. When we wanted to know about Karma we cannot come to know about Karma by our own speculative efforts, we have to seek scriptural wisdom to know what are duties we are expected to perform. Now, now in this whole cycle Lord is the source of everything ultimately Lord is source ofif living beings, nature, Yajna rituals, scriptures but specifically Lord is not visible to us, Lord is not directly visible to us because Lord is spiritual but currently we are in material level of consciousness, so what is the connecting link between spiritual realm and material realm? That is the scripture, the scriptural realm becomes accessible to us through material wisdom, and scriptural wisdom is not just theoretical it is transformational. It gives us practical process of Yoga by which we can raise ourselves or transform ourselves to rise from material level to scriptural level, so that is why although Krishna is the source of everything in this context it is said that brahmākṣara-samudbhavam, that the Brahma the scripture comes from the Supreme Lord

tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma

nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

sarva-gataṁ brahma means the Brahma is present everywhere the absolute truth is everywhere but how we come to know about Brahma nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam, He is always accessible to us through Yajna, that means the human beings they can access the absolute truth through the performance of Yajna.

So looking at cycle in fig once again Krishna (Akshara) is source and goal of everything but how will He be accessible to us? He is not visible to us so He has given the Vedas and in Vedas our prescribed duties are given and prescribed duties connects us with Him through yajnaYajan. So bymy the means of Yajna we become connected with the absolute truth, that is why tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma; nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

So universal becomes accessible to us through Yajna. When we understand this point we recognize the importance of Yajna. Lord is everywhere but how we perceive Him, Yajna offers the means to perceive Him. So what essentially Yajna involves we discussed that, it involves sacrifice. When we perform sacrifice for the pleasure of the absolute we give up what we have used for our pleasure or for His pleasure and in this way we connect to the absolute truth, so Yajna makes the universal accessible to us. Therefore 

tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma

nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

So all pervading absolute is accessible to us through Yajna. So we participate in this cycle through Yajna and if donedoes so the cycle continues, we get grains and thus we survive for example we are paying tax and government is supplying the water supply, if we stop paying the taxes the government will stop giving the water, so for the cycle to go on we have to keep doing Yajna, similarly the devatas are providing the necessitiesnecesasities and when we do yajnaYajan then the cycle keeps going on.

Animals are not abided by the laws of the state, e.g. there is a red signal and a donkey is going on so the donkey will just walk through the signal but a person who is riding if he will jump the signal police will fine.

So the point is donkey is not having intelligence but we humans have so we need to perform Yajna to get the necessities properly. 

So from the cycle the role of Devatas are to ensure that Parjanya are provided and we need Anna and other whole part (Bhutani, Vedas, Karma & Yajna are our part). So when we understand karma and do yajnaYajan we are cooperating and then what Devatas will do is they will provide rains and we get grains. So in this way the cycle is maintained.

SP Purport: Quotes from BaladevaBaladev Vidya BhushanBhusan that Devatas are not the Supreme Lord, Supreme Lord is Yajna Purusa and He is the supreme beneficiary He is the Lord of the Devatas, Then PrabhupadaPrabupada said when we take Prasad we protect our self from material nature. Prasad is like vaccine.

Then Prabhupada mentioned: It is said, asya mahato bhūtasya niśvasitam etad yad ṛg-vedo yajur-vedaḥ sāma-vedo ’tharvāṅgirasaḥ. “The four Vedas – namely the Ṛg Veda, Yajur Veda, Sāma Veda and Atharva Veda – are all emanations from the breathing of the great Personality of Godhead.” (Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.5.11). The Lord, being omnipotent, can speak by breathing air, for as it is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā, the Lord has the omnipotence to perform through each of His senses the actions of all other senses.