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TEXT 12 istan bhogan hi vo deva
SYNONYMS  istan--desired;
bhogan--necessities
of life; hi--certainly; vah--unto you; devah--the
demigods; dasyante--award; yajna-bhavitah--being satisfied
by the performance of sacrifices; taih--by them; dattan--things
given; apradaya--without offering; ebhyah--to the demigods;
yah--he
who; bhunkte--enjoys; stenah--thief; eva--certainly;
sah--is
he.
TRANSLATION In charge
of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the
performance of yajna [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he
who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return,
is certainly a thief.
PURPORT The demigods
are authorized supplying agents on behalf of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Visnu. Therefore, they must be satisfied by the performance of
prescribed yajnas. In the Vedas, there are different kinds
of yajnas prescribed for different kinds of demigods, but all are
ultimately offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For one who cannot
understand what the Personality of Godhead is, sacrifice to the demigods
is recommended. According to the different material qualities of the persons
concerned, different types of yajnas are recommended in the Vedas.
Worship of different demigods is also on the same basis--namely, according
to different qualities. For example, the meat-eaters are recommended to
worship the goddess Kali, the ghastly form of material nature, and before
the goddess the sacrifice of animals is recommended. But for those who
are in the mode of goodness, the transcendental worship of Visnu is recommended.
But ultimately, all yajnas are meant for gradual promotion to the
transcendental position. For ordinary men, at least five yajnas,
known as panca-maha-yajna, are necessary.
One should
know, however, that all the necessities of life that the human society
requires are supplied by the demigod agents of the Lord. No one can manufacture
anything. Take, for example, all the eatables of human society. These eatables
include grains, fruits, vegetables, milk, sugar, etc., for the persons
in the mode of goodness, and also eatables for the non-vegetarians, like
meats, etc., none of which can be manufactured by men. Then again, take
for example heat, light, water, air, etc., which are also necessities of
life--none of them can be manufactured by the human society. Without the
Supreme Lord, there can be no profuse sunlight, moonlight, rainfall, breeze,
etc., without which no one can live. Obviously, our life is dependent on
supplies from the Lord. Even for our manufacturing enterprises, we require
so many raw materials like metal, sulphur, mercury, manganese, and so many
essentials--all of which are supplied by the agents of the Lord, with the
purpose that we should make proper use of them to keep ourselves fit and
healthy for the purpose of self-realization, leading to the ultimate goal
of life, namely, liberation from the material struggle for existence. This
aim of life is attained by performance of yajnas. If we forget the
purpose of human life and simply take supplies from the agents of the Lord
for sense gratification and become more and more entangled in material
existence, which is not the purpose of creation, certainly we become thieves,
and therefore we are punished by the laws of material nature. A society
of thieves can never be happy because they have no aim in life. The gross
materialist thieves have no ultimate goal of life. They are simply directed
to sense gratification; nor do they have knowledge of how to perform yajnas.
Lord Caitanya, however, inaugurated the easiest performance of yajna,
namely the sankirtana-yajna, which can be performed by anyone in
the world who accepts the principles of Krsna consciousness.
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