Pañca Mahāyajña
Pañca Mahāyajña · pañca mahā-yajña, “the five great yajñas”
Grammar: a compound of pañca (five), mahā (great) and yajña: “the five great yajñas”. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa also calls them simply the pañca-yajñas, the five yajñas.
Meaning: the five yajñas that the gṛhastha (householder) performs every day, by which he gives their share to the devas, the pitṛs, the ṛshis, men and all beings: brahma-yajña (study and teaching of the Veda), deva-yajña (homa to the devatās), pitṛ-yajña (offerings to the pitṛs), manushya-yajña or nṛ-yajña (food and honour to men and guests) and bhūta-yajña (food to animals, birds and other beings).
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa lists the five three times, makes them presiding devatās of the Vedic rites, shows Śrī Kṛshṇa himself performing them, and tells what comes to the one who neglects them.
The five, as the text names them. Among the children of Savitā and Pṛśni, Śrī Śuka names Agnihotra, Paśuyāga, Cāturmāsya and the Pañca-mahāyajñas, which the text glosses as the presiding devatās of the Vedic rites. The gloss names the five: brahmayajña, which is the study of the Veda; devayajña; nṛyajña, which is the honouring of guests (atithi-pūjā); pitṛyajña; and bhūtayajña, which is giving food to animals, birds and other beings (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 18).
Nārada Maharshi, teaching Yudhishṭhira the dharma of the gṛhastha, says: “With the wealth gained by the grace of daiva, the householder should perform the pañca-yajñas, the deva, pitṛ, ṛshi, manushya and bhūta yajñas, and live on what remains. The discerning one who gives up the feeling ‘this is mine’ in all that remains attains the ātma-sākshātkāra that the mahātmās attain” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 14).
Śrī Kṛshṇa, teaching Uddhava the dharma of the āśramas, says that the gṛhastha should perform the pañca-yajñas according to his means: brahma-yajña, the study of the Veda; deva-yajña, honouring the devatās with homa; pitṛ-yajña, honouring the pitṛ-devatās with piṇḍa-dāna; bhūta-yajña, honouring beings by giving them food; and manushya-yajña, honouring men with the gift of food. The devatās, pitṛs, beings and men are all forms of Śrī Kṛshṇa, so he should worship them every day (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 17). Among yajñas, Śrī Kṛshṇa says, he is the brahma-yajña, the study and teaching of the Veda (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 16).
Śrī Kṛshṇa keeps the five yajñas. When Nārada Maharshi went from palace to palace in Dvārakā to see how Śrī Kṛshṇa lived as a householder, he found him in one house offering homa into the āhavanīya and the other fires, in another worshipping the devas, the pitṛs and the others with the five yajñas, in another feeding brāhmaṇas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 69).
What neglect brings. Among the narakas Śrī Śuka names Kṛmibhojana, for those who eat whatever they get without giving any to others, who never give dāna or do homa, and from whom the five mahāyajñas are far. The text explains the five in a bracket: offering to the devatās in homa; giving food to men; giving food to animals, birds and the rest; brahma-yajña, studying the Veda and teaching it to others; and pitṛ-yajña, serving one’s parents while they live and doing śrāddha and the like after they die (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 26).
In the account of the miserly brāhmaṇa of Avantī, which Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava, five have a share in a man’s wealth: the devatās, the pitṛs, human beings, other living beings and the ṛshis. The five yajña-devatās were angry with this man, who would not give alms even to a cat; because he disregarded those mahāyajña-devatās, even the little puṇya he had was destroyed, and all his hoarded wealth was lost (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 23).
Related terms: Yajña · Brahma-yajña · Deva-yajña · Pitṛ-yajña · Bhūta-yajña · Nṛ-yajña · Gṛhastha
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 26; Skandha 6, Chapter 18; Skandha 7, Chapter 14; Skandha 10, Chapter 69; Skandha 11, Chapters 16–17, 23