Shloka 27
Pṛthu Mahārāja’s Homecoming, Sacrificial Assembly, and Instruction on Devotional Kingship
अस्ति यज्ञपतिर्नाम केषाञ्चिदर्हसत्तमा: । इहामुत्र च लक्ष्यन्ते ज्योत्स्नावत्य: क्वचिद्भुव: ॥ २७ ॥
asti yajña-patir nāma keṣāñcid arha-sattamāḥ ihāmutra ca lakṣyante jyotsnāvatyaḥ kvacid bhuvaḥ
Verehrte Damen und Herren, gemäß der Autorität der Śāstras muss es einen höchsten Lenker geben, Yajñapati genannt, der die entsprechenden Früchte unserer Handlungen verleiht; sonst, warum erscheinen manche in diesem Leben wie auch im Jenseits von außergewöhnlicher Schönheit und Kraft?
Pṛthu Mahārāja’s sole aim in ruling his kingdom was to raise the citizens to the standard of God consciousness. Since there was a great assembly in the arena of sacrifice, there were different types of men present, but he was especially interested in speaking to those who were not atheists. It has already been explained in the previous verses that Pṛthu Mahārāja advised the citizens to become adhokṣaja-dhiyaḥ, which means God conscious, or Kṛṣṇa conscious, and in this verse he specifically presents the authority of śāstra, even though his father was a number-one atheist who did not abide by the injunctions mentioned in the Vedic śāstras, who practically stopped all sacrificial performances, and who so disgusted the brāhmaṇas that they not only dethroned him but cursed and killed him. Atheistic men do not believe in the existence of God, and thus they understand everything which is happening in our daily affairs to be due to physical arrangement and chance. Atheists believe in the atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophy of the combination of prakṛti and puruṣa. They believe only in matter and hold that matter under certain conditions of amalgamation gives rise to the living force, which then appears as puruṣa, the enjoyer; then, by a combination of matter and the living force, the many varieties of material manifestation come into existence. Nor do atheists believe in the injunctions of the Vedas. According to them, all the Vedic injunctions are simply theories that have no practical application in life. Taking all this into consideration, Pṛthu Mahārāja suggested that theistic men will solidly reject the views of the atheists on the grounds that there cannot be many varieties of existence without the plan of a superior intelligence. Atheists very vaguely explain that these varieties of existence occur simply by chance, but the theists who believe in the injunctions of the Vedas must reach all their conclusions under the direction of the Vedas.
FAQs
Yajñapati refers to Lord Viṣṇu, the supreme Lord who is the true enjoyer and master of all sacrifices (yajña).
He reminds them that righteous life and sacrifice are meant to please Viṣṇu; the Lord’s presence becomes perceptible to the worthy both in this life and beyond.
Offer one’s work as service to God—acting with integrity and devotion—so that daily duties become yajña and spiritual clarity arises.