Gita 4.25

Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga

दैवमेवापरे यज्ञं योगिनः पर्युपासते । ब्रह्माग्नावपरे यज्ञं यज्ञेनैवोपजुह्वति ॥

daivam evāpare yajñaṁ yoginaḥ paryupāsate | brahmāgnāv apare yajñaṁ yajñenaivopajuhvati ||

In essence: The highest sacrifice is not offering to something—it is offering the very act of offering into the infinite fire of being.

A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply

Sadhak-Guru Dialogue

Sadhak: "Master, I have been doing puja to the gods for many years—Ganesha, Lakshmi, Shiva. But now you speak of offering into the 'fire of Brahman.' Does this mean my devotion has been of a lower kind?"

Guru: "Lower? Tell me, when you offer to Ganesha with sincere heart, what happens to your ego in that moment of devotion?"

Sadhak: "It becomes quiet. I forget myself. There is just the offering, the mantra, the presence of something vast..."

Guru: "And in that forgetting of separate self—what remains?"

Sadhak: "Just... awareness. The ritual continues but 'I' am not doing it. It does itself."

Guru: "That is already the offering into Brahman's fire. You see? The form of worship—which god, which ritual—is the doorway. What you enter is the same infinite space. Devotion to gods purifies until you recognize: the gods themselves are expressions of the One Fire."

Sadhak: "So when Krishna says some offer 'sacrifice by sacrifice'—sacrifice into the fire by means of sacrifice itself—what does that mean practically?"

Guru: "It means the distinction between sacred and ordinary collapses. Your breathing becomes yajna. Your seeing becomes yajna. Not because you 'make' them sacred by some mental trick, but because you recognize they always were sacred. Every moment is already an offering being received by awareness."

Sadhak: "But then what is being sacrificed?"

Guru: "The sense of 'me' doing something separate. That is the ultimate oblation. When that is offered, nothing is left out. The sacrifice is complete. And here is the paradox: nothing is actually lost. What you thought you were giving up was never yours to begin with."

Sadhak: "This is very subtle. I understand it intellectually but..."

Guru: "Continue your puja to the gods. Let devotion ripen. Understanding will deepen naturally. The gods themselves will lead you to recognize what lies beyond all form. They are not obstacles to Brahman—they are Brahman in approachable form. Love them fully, and love will consume even the lover."

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🌅 Daily Practice

🌅 Morning

Begin your morning practice—whether meditation, puja, or simple mindfulness—by explicitly dedicating it. First, dedicate it to a deity or principle you resonate with (sun, consciousness, a specific god). Feel the devotional quality of offering 'upward.' Then, shift attention: recognize that the one making the offering and the one receiving are both arising in the same awareness. Let the sense of 'I am offering' dissolve into 'offering is happening in presence.' Notice: does anything essential change? The form continues, but who is doing it? Rest in this question.

☀️ Daytime

Throughout your day, practice 'invisible yajna.' Each action can be an offering. When eating, let the food be offered to the fire of digestion, which is a form of the cosmic fire. When working, let effort be offered to the task without holding back. When speaking, let words be offered into the receptive space of listening. Notice that life is already structured as continuous offering and receiving—every breath is an exchange with the atmosphere, every conversation an exchange of attention. Your practice is simply to recognize what is already the case and participate consciously. At least once, pause during an ordinary action and feel: 'This moment is sacred. This action is yajna. There is no difference between temple and office.'

🌙 Evening

Before sleep, review the day as a series of offerings. What did you give? What did you receive? Can you recognize that giving and receiving were movements within one field of experience? Feel gratitude for all that was offered to you: the food, the sunlight, the interactions, the challenges. Then offer even this gratitude into the silence. As you relax into sleep, let all sense of being a separate offerer dissolve. Rest as the fire of awareness that receives all experience. The entire day, the entire life, is being offered into this fire. You are not the one who offers or receives—you are the fire itself.

Common Questions

If worshiping gods is mentioned alongside the higher teaching of offering into Brahman, are devotional practices therefore inferior and should be abandoned by serious seekers?

Not at all. Krishna presents these not as inferior and superior but as different expressions of the same fundamental impulse toward the sacred. Devotion to gods (daiva-yajna) serves crucial functions: it develops humility, concentrates the mind, purifies emotions, and creates a relationship with the infinite through accessible forms. Many great jnanis (knowers of Brahman) remained devoted to personal deities throughout their lives—Ramana Maharshi spoke of Arunachala with tender devotion, Ramakrishna worshiped Kali. The 'fire of Brahman' teaching doesn't negate devotion but reveals its deepest dimension. A mature devotee discovers that in the depth of devotion, all forms dissolve into formless love. The path is not from one to the other but through one into the other.

The phrase 'offering sacrifice by sacrifice itself' seems paradoxically circular. How can something be offered by means of itself?

This apparent paradox points to the collapse of subject-object duality. In ordinary sacrifice, there is the offerer (subject), the thing offered (object), and the recipient (another object). These seem separate. But upon deep investigation, where does the offerer end and the offering begin? Where does the offering end and the fire begin? The boundaries we assume are conceptual impositions on seamless reality. When this is seen, 'sacrifice by sacrifice' makes perfect sense: the entire movement of offering is one undivided happening. There is no separate doer offering something separate into something else separate. This is not philosophical wordplay but a description of how reality actually is when not filtered through the subject-object framework. The paradox exists only for the dualistic mind; from the standpoint of unity, it is simply accurate description.

Are the 'gods' (devas) real beings or just psychological symbols? How should a modern seeker understand daiva-yajna?

This question reveals an assumed dichotomy that may be false. 'Real beings' and 'psychological symbols' may not be mutually exclusive. The devas can be understood at multiple levels simultaneously: as cosmic principles (Agni as fire/transformation, Vayu as air/life-force, Indra as sovereignty/perception), as actual conscious beings in subtle realms, and as archetypes within the psyche. All three may be true without contradiction. For practical purposes, what matters is the effect of the relationship. When you worship Ganesha, something real happens—obstacles dissolve, wisdom increases, the heart opens. Whether this is because Ganesha is a being, a cosmic principle, or a deep structure of consciousness is secondary to the transformative experience. The modern seeker can approach devas phenomenologically: engage wholeheartedly, observe effects, remain open to mystery.

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