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TEXT 14 annad bhavanti bhutani
SYNONYMS  annat--from
grains; bhavanti--grow; bhutani--the material bodies; parjanyat--from
rains; anna--of food grains; sambhavah--are made possible;
yajnat--from
the performance of sacrifice; bhavati--becomes possible; parjanyah--rains;
yajnah--performance of yajna;karma--prescribed duties; samudbhavah--born
of.
TRANSLATION All living
bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are
produced by performance of yajna [sacrifice], and yajna is born of prescribed
duties.
PURPORT Srila Baladeva
Vidyabhusana, a great commentator on the Bhagavad-gita, writes as
follows: ye indrady-angatayavasthitam yajnam sarvesvaram visnum abhyarcya
tac-chesam asnanti tena tad deha-yatram sampadayanti, te santah sarvesvarasya
yajna-purusasya bhaktah sarva-kilbisair anadi-kala-vivrddhair atmanubhava-prati
bandhakair nikhilaih papair vimucyante. The Supreme Lord, who is known
as the yajna-purusa, or the personal beneficiary of all sacrifices,
is the master of all demigods, who serve Him as the different limbs of
the body serve the whole. Demigods like Indra, Candra, Varuna, etc., are
appointed officers who manage material affairs, and the Vedas direct
sacrifices to satisfy these demigods so that they may be pleased to supply
air, light and water sufficiently to produce food grains. When Lord Krsna
is worshiped, the demigods, who are different limbs of the Lord, are also
automatically worshiped; therefore there is no separate need to worship
the demigods. For this reason, the devotees of the Lord, who are in Krsna
consciousness, offer food to Krsna and then eat--a process which nourishes
the body spiritually. By such action not only are past sinful reactions
in the body vanquished, but the body becomes immunized to all contamination
of material nature. When there is an epidemic disease, an antiseptic vaccine
protects a person from the attack of such an epidemic. Similarly, food
offered to Lord Visnu and then taken by us makes us sufficiently resistant
to material affection, and one who is accustomed to this practice is called
a devotee of the Lord. Therefore, a person in Krsna consciousness, who
eats only food offered to Krsna, can counteract all reactions of past material
infections, which are impediments to the progress of self-realization.
On the other hand, one who does not do so continues to increase the volume
of sinful action, and this prepares the next body to resemble hogs and
dogs, to suffer the resultant reactions of all sins. The material world
is full of contaminations, and one who is immunized by accepting prasadam
of the Lord (food offered to Visnu) is saved from the attack, whereas one
who does not do so becomes subjected to contamination.
Food grains
or vegetables are factually eatables. The human being eats different kinds
of food grains, vegetables, fruits, etc., and the animals eat the refuse
of the food grains and vegetables, grass, plants, etc. Human beings who
are accustomed to eating meat and flesh must also depend on the production
of vegetation in order to eat the animals. Therefore, ultimately, we have
to depend on the production of the field and not on the production of big
factories. The field production is due to sufficient rain from the sky,
and such rains are controlled by demigods like Indra, sun, moon, etc.,
and they are all servants of the Lord. The Lord can be satisfied by sacrifices;
therefore, one who cannot perform them will find himself in scarcity--that
is the law of nature. Yajna, specifically the sankirtana-yajna
prescribed for this age, must therefore be performed to save us at least
from scarcity of food supply.
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