Shloka 27
मायामोह-प्रवर्तन, वेदमार्ग-बहिष्कार, तथा पाषण्ड-संसर्ग-दोषः
Māyāmoha’s Delusion, Rejection of the Vedic Path, and the Fault of Heretical Association
यज्ञैर् अनेकैर् देवत्वम् अवाप्येन्द्रेण भुज्यते शम्यादि यदि चेत् काष्ठं तद्वरं पत्रभुक् पशुः
yajñair anekair devatvam avāpyendreṇa bhujyate śamyādi yadi cet kāṣṭhaṃ tadvaraṃ patrabhuk paśuḥ
By countless sacrifices one may attain godhood, and Indra enjoys that state as its fruit. Yet if the sacred śamī and the rest are nothing but wood, then better than such hollow rites is even an animal that lives on leaves.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Mocking reductionism: if sacred materials are ‘mere wood,’ ritual collapses into absurdity; critique framed through Indra’s yajña-fruit
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Reducing sacred acts to mere material components (‘only wood’) empties them of meaning and leads to cynical nihilism; ritual requires right understanding of its divinely ordained efficacy.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Avoid both extremes: mechanical ritualism without meaning and dismissive skepticism; integrate intention, understanding, and devotion in practice.
Vishishtadvaita: Material objects can serve as real modes (prakāras) of the Lord’s order; the sacred is not negated by materiality but elevated by divine purpose.
Vishnu Form: Para-Brahman
FAQs
It warns that ritual objects and procedures are not sacred by themselves; without right understanding and intention, yajña becomes an empty exterior.
He acknowledges yajña can yield high results—even Indra’s divine status—yet he insists that mechanistic rites without inner meaning are inferior to even simple, natural living.
Implicitly, the verse aligns with Vaishnava teaching that true dharma culminates in devotion and right vision oriented to the Supreme (Vishnu), not in ritual performance treated as an end in itself.