Talk:The Five Sources of Unavoidable Evil (Pāpam)

By Vishal Agarwal

We cause injury and commit violence unintentionally even by performing the bare-minimum activities needed to survive. For example, agriculture involves the uprooting of weeds, and the killing of worms and other bugs in the cropland. Hindu dharm teaches that we should atone for these sins, and also repay the debts that we are born with, through the daily performance of the pañca-mahā-yajña-s or the five great daily sacred acts during the householder stage of our lifecycle.

The householder has five slaughter houses (as it were, viz.) the hearth, the grinding stone, the broom, the pestle and mortar, and water-vessel by using which he is bound (with the fetters of evil). Manusmṛti 3.68

In order to successively expiate the offences committed by means of all these five, the great ṛṣis have prescribed for householders the daily performance of the five great yajñas. Manusmṛti 3.69

He who neglects not these five great yajñas, while he is able to perform them, is not tainted by the evil committed in the five places of slaughter, though he constantly lives in the order of the householders. Manusmṛti 3.71

But he who does not feed these five, the deva-s, his guests, those whom he is bound to maintain, the ancestors, and himself, lives not, though he breathes. Manusmṛti 3.72

Five are the great yajñas that have to be performed every day. They have to be started and completed every day. These are the deva-yajña, the pitṛ-yajña, the bhūta-yajña, manuṣya-yajña and brahma-yajña. Yajurveda, Taittirīya Āraṇyaka 2.10.1; Mādhyandina Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 11.5.6.6–7

Repayment of Debts through Pañca-Mahā-Yajña-s

1. The deva-riṇa is repaid through the performance of deva-yajña.
2. The ṛṣi-riṇa is repaid through the performance of brahma-yajña.
3. The pitri-riṇa is repaid through the performance of pitṛ-yajña and by marrying and giving birth to one’s own children so as to keep the wheel of life moving from one generation to the next.
4. The manuṣya-riṇa is repaid through the performance of atithi-yajña.
5. The bhūta-riṇa is repaid through the performance of vaiśvadeva-yajña.

Avoiding these five acts incurs evil.

The false man is he who does not worship the deva-s, pitṛs or humans (atithis). Ṛgveda, Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 32.8

He eats sin alone, who cooks only for himself. That alone is considered edible food by the virtuous which is left over after offerings are made in the five mahāyajñas. Viṣṇu Dharmasūtra 67.43

The person who is ever engrossed in the study of Vedas and who performs the five great daily sacrifices without fail is never tainted by the pāpa resulting from the greatest sins. Yājñavalkya Smṛti 3.310

Nakula said to Yudhiṣṭhira: King, if you become an ascetic before performing the five daily yajñas, ceremonies for manes and bathing in sacred pilgrim centers, then you will be destroyed just as strong wind shatters clouds. You will fall from this world and the next and will hang in a limbo between them. Mahābhārata 12.12.33–34

The philosophy of the five mahāyajñas exemplifies the adages: “It takes a village to raise a child,” “No man is an island,” and “The world is a web and we are nodes connected to each other.” It is wrong for anyone to think that whatever he gets is a result of only his personal effort. A lot of factors go into making our success (or failure). The entire cosmos is like a giant web – the Brahmajāla – in which we humans, plants, animals, deva-s, other life-forms that we cannot even imagine, and even inanimate objects are in different symbiotic relationships at any given time. As humans, it is our duty to pay back to the seen and unseen factors that nourish us.

Living on alms is abominable because such a person is a social parasite. But such a person may yet beg to perform his five daily mahāyajña-s.

It is permissible to accept charity from everywhere for the sake of serving deva-s, atithis, parents, gurus, wife and other dependents, and for the sake of one’s very survival. Yājñavalkya Smṛti 1.216

The following story from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa illustrates the importance of performing the pañca-mahāyajña-s:

Story: King Pṛthu Milks Mother Earth

King Pṛthu was crowned by many sages to rule the earth. But he found it very difficult to take care of the people in his kingdom. There were famines all the time. Rains did not come on time. All trees and plants were drying up. Cattle did not have anything to eat and were starving. As a result, his people were dying because they had no food.

Pṛthu became very angry with Mother Earth for causing all this suffering to his people. He thought that Earth was hiding all the grains and plants inside her instead of letting them grow on the soil outside. He decided to shoot an arrow into the heart of Earth and break her open so that people could get the food she had hidden in her.

He was about to take aim, when Mother Earth became scared. She took the form of a cow with King Pṛthu in hot pursuit. The King followed her wherever she went and did not give up. Finally, the cow begged him not to kill her. King Pṛthu then asked her why she was not yielding any food for his subjects.

Mother Earth replied:

"Bhagavān took the form of Brahmā and created plants and food crops so that people can live and also lead a life of good conduct and discipline. But instead, people are just growing food, eating it, and exploiting the natural resources for their physical comforts alone. They have forgotten to thank Bhagavān by performing worship and religious ceremonies. They are not doing their duties of charity and sharing. I was scared that human beings will finish off all the food in the world by just eating it, and not using any part of their food for doing worship and charity. Therefore, I hid whatever food was left inside me."

Mother Earth told him that she would yield food again only if someone worthy brought a calf and a pitcher and started milking her. He must also level the earth and create irrigation systems so that all the rain water would not just get washed into the ocean.

King Pṛthu agreed that people had taken the Earth for granted and had forgotten her true importance. She had been abused, mistreated, and harassed by everyone. He ensured that this would not happen again. So he called the sages, the deva-s, and others, and they all milked her in the presence of Indra and other devatās serving as calves. There was plentiful food and riches on the earth once again, after Mother Earth was ensured that she would be respected and cared for by people who ate the food given by her.