The Power of Sacrifice (Yajna): A Path to Lasting Fulfillment
Chapter 3 v. 10-12
The spiritual practice of sacrifice (yajna) leads to inner freedom, selfless action, and lasting prosperity in harmony with divine order.
Contents
The Practice of Sacrifice in Karma Yoga
Giving as a Spiritual Orientation
Sacrifice as the Law of Prosperity
The Cosmic Pattern of Yajna
The Web of Life: Giving as a Divine Relationship
Prospering Through Participation in Divine Order
Living Life as Yajna
PODCAST EPISODE: Cosmic Inheritance - Reciprocity & Selfless Action
Selfless action, rooted in the spirit of sacrifice (yajna), becomes the key to spiritual freedom, fulfillment, and divine prosperity.
To live freely and prosper in harmony with the divine requires more than effort—it calls for a radical shift in how we act and why. At the heart of this shift is the practice of sacrifice (yajna): selfless offering without attachment. This simple yet powerful teaching reveals the way to spiritual freedom, fulfillment, and true abundance.
The Practice of Sacrifice in Karma Yoga
In Karma Yoga, we find this guidebook for skillful living—understanding how to act in harmony with divine will, to cooperate with the infinite, to find freedom from self-will and actions that are karmically binding and sorrow producing. It’s a tall order to live that way. A simple solution is provided, and I would say simple but not easy, because the solution takes conscious awareness, willingness, surrendered devotion, and practice. Lots of practice.
Freedom Through Yajna: The True Purpose of Action
Bhagavad Gita verse 3.9 declares:
"Aside from action for the purpose of sacrifice, this world is bound by action."
When our actions are motivated by personal desire, they bind us to the cycle of cause and effect. Acting from self-will, we sow karmic seeds that lead to suffering. We are never truly free when we act for ourselves alone. Our desires become the lens through which we perceive the world, and from there arise disappointment, grasping, anger, or pride. Even when we achieve what we desire, attachment and fear of loss follow.
The solution offered in the Gita is clear and profound:
"Perform action for the purpose of sacrifice, Arjuna, free from attachment."
To live freely, we must learn to act as an offering—to dedicate our actions to the Divine, to Life itself. This is not about renouncing activity, but about renouncing selfishness. It is a call to conscious awareness, to offering every thought, word, and deed with devotion and humility, without clinging to results.
"Aside from action for the purpose of sacrifice, this world is bound by action."
—Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3
Giving as a Spiritual Orientation
This introduction to offering our action and contributing to the well-being of all—giving back to God—brings us into divine remembrance of what we really are. We do what we do to contribute and not to take. It's a yogic reorientation of that default inclination to try to get—whether it’s getting something, getting love, or acknowledgment. It’s a turning around: How can I give love? How can I give acknowledgment? How can I give to life?
We begin to see that the individual self is an instrument of the divine in the world—for the divine—not the other way around. From the egoic perspective, we think God is here to help us, which God does. But this is a change in perspective—not that the divine is our instrument to bring about our wishes, but that we are instruments of the divine in this cycle of life.
Sacrifice as the Law of Prosperity
Sacrifice is a way to take our right place in the cosmic order. It’s a beautiful view of life—getting out of the small self and coming into our divine inheritance. Life is reciprocity. That’s the highest law. It’s a continual giving and receiving.
As we become aware of that, we notice gratitude naturally arising in our heart and our mind. Life becomes abundantly ever-new joy. We become free from that continual striving for more, because our experience of life itself becomes more.
I wrote a poem about how I’d given up the ledger of life—“Am I getting enough?”—because every time I would say, “Thank you,” from my heart, a new gift would arrive at my door. I couldn’t keep up with the abundance. I had to surrender into it. When we do that, life is continually giving. Life becomes more abundant, more gracious, more beautiful. When we stop measuring, life pours out blessings. It’s always been that way. But we start to see it and have a new approach to it.
The Cosmic Pattern of Yajna
Bhagavad Gita verses 3.10 – 3.12 offer a sacred vision of the universe based on reciprocity and divine cooperation. The Creator, having brought forth humanity and sacrifice together, declared:
"You shall prosper by this. Let this be the milk cow of your desires."
Here, sacrifice is not a loss, but a key to abundance. Just as a cow gives milk to nourish, yajna becomes the channel for the flow of grace and support from the universe. It establishes our right place within the cosmic order.
Bhagavad Gita verse 3.11 continues:
"By this sacrifice, nourish the gods and let the gods nourish you. Thus nourishing one another, you shall attain the highest good."
This verse reveals the principle of mutual support that undergirds life. When we honor and support the forces of life—symbolized by the devas or gods—they in turn support and nourish us. These "gods" are not distant beings, but the elemental and cosmic powers through which divine intelligence expresses: the sun, moon, rain, wind, earth, plants, and the vital energies that sustain all beings.
When our lives are aligned with this principle, we fulfill our part in the sacred web of existence. Life then becomes not a struggle for more, but a joyful dance of giving and receiving. We give in service and receive the blessings of the infinite.
The Web of Life: Giving as a Divine Relationship
Bhagavad Gita verse 3.12 delivers a powerful ethical teaching:
"The gods, nourished by sacrifice, will give you the desired object. One who enjoys these gifts without giving in return is truly a thief."
To take from life without giving back violates the law of reciprocity. It disconnects us from the Source. When we acknowledge that everything we receive comes from the Divine and respond with gratitude and service, we live in right relationship. But when we consume without awareness or contribution, we violate that balance.
Life is continuously giving. The sun rises, the earth yields food, water flows, and breath fills our lungs. Sacrifice means to live in remembrance of this sacred flow and to consciously participate in it. We do this through our daily actions, our service, our prayers, our practices, and our care for one another and the Earth.
Prospering Through Participation in Divine Order
My guru, Roy Eugene Davis, commented on these verses:
“The gods to which this sacred text refer are not entities. They are the influential forces which determine the actions of nature. They nourish us and we nourish them when our awareness is clear and our actions are appropriate. If we do not offer ourselves and our actions to life, life cannot nurture us because our choice to withhold what we have to offer restricts the flow of the currents of nature in relationship to us.”
This teaching returns us to the Bhagavad Gita’s opening scene, where Arjuna is hesitant to act. The Lord Krishna urges him to step into his dharma—to fulfill his responsibility not as an act of will, but as an offering. When we surrender our ego and step into our sacred role, life supports us. We are nourished by the same power we serve.
Living Life as Yajna
Yajna, translated as sacrifice, also refers to sacred rituals. Rituals begin with prayer, location awareness, mantras, offerings. Each person plays their part. It is cosmic harmony enacted. We can learn how to live our life that way. Study, meditation, service, feeding animals, building sacred fires—all are forms of yajna.
We begin each day by remembering the time, place, and intention of our actions. Like the rituals offered at the sacred fire, we make offerings of our time, energy, devotion, and care. We bring our whole self to what we do—body, mind, and spirit. We follow through. We complete the circle.
In the Jewel of Abundance book, I offer an exercise: draw the circle around your activity. Begin with intention, follow through mindfully, and conclude consciously. When we live like this, our life becomes a sacred act. Even simple tasks become offerings. This is how we live freely in the world while remaining unattached—how we act while remaining inwardly at peace.
The yogic practice of yajna teaches us to live as givers, not takers; as channels of grace, not consumers of it. The spiritual promise is that when we live in this way, life becomes increasingly abundant, increasingly joyful. The more we give, the more we see how much is already being given.
May we carry on in the spirit of yajna.
Listen to the full podcast episode below.
Bhagavad Gita, pt 23: Cosmic Inheritance - Reciprocity & Selfless Action
Chapter 3 v. 10-12
As we deepen our understanding of the interconnectedness between our thoughts, actions, and the karmic imprints they create, we uncover the importance of conscious, selfless action. Delve into the concept of sacrifice (yajna) as a means of participating in the abundant energy of life and nurturing the divine powers that sustain us. Discover the beauty of living beyond the confines of the ego and embracing our cosmic inheritance.
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