यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः।
भुञ्जते ते त्वघं पापा ये पचन्त्यात्मकारणात्।।3.13।।
3.13 By becoming partakers of the remembers of sacrifices, they become freed from all sins. But the unholy persons who cook for themselves, they incur sin.
3.13 The righteous who eat the remnants of the sacrifice are freed from all sins; but those sinful ones who cook food (only) for their own sake verily eat sin.
3.13. The righteous persons, who eat the remnants (objects enjoined) of the actions to be performed necessarily, are freed from all sins. But those who cook, intending their own selves, are sinners and eat sin.
3.13 यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः who eat the remnants of the sacrifice? सन्तः the righteous? मुच्यन्ते are freed? सर्वकिल्बिषैः from all sins? भुञ्जते eat? ते those? तु indeed? अघम् sin? पापाः sinful ones? ये who? पचन्ति cook? आत्मकारणात् for their own sake.Commentary Those who? after performing the five great sacrifices? eat the remnants of the food are freed from all the sins committed by these five agents of insect slaughter? viz.? (1) the pestle and mortar? (2) the grinding stone? (3) the fireplace? (4) the place where the waterpot is kept? and (5) the broom. These are the five places where injury to life is daily committed. The sins are washed away by the performance of the five MahaYajnas or great sacrifices which every Dvija(twicorn or the people belonging to the first three castes in Hindu society? especially the Brahmin) ought to perform1. DevaYajna Offering sacrifices to the gods which will satisfy them?2. BrahmaYajna or RishiYajna Teaching and reciting the scriptures which will satisfy Brahman and the Rishis?3. PitriYajna Offering libations of water to ones ancestors which will satisfy the manes?4. NriYajna The feeding of the hungry and the guests? and?5. BhutaYajna The feeding of the subhuman species? such as animals? birds? etc.
3.13 Those again, who are yajna-sista-asinah, partakers of the remnants of sacrifices, who, after making offering to the gods and others, [The panca-maha-yajnas, five great offerings, which have to be made by every householder are offerings to gods, manes, humans, creatures and rsis (sages).] are habituated to eat the remnants (of those offerings), called nectar; they, santah, by being (so); mucyante, become freed; sarva-kilbisaih, from all sins-from those sins incurred through the five things [the five things are; oven, water-pot, cutting instruments, grinding machines and broom. A householder incurs sin by killing insects etc. with these things, knowingly or unknowingly. It is atoned by making the aforesaid five offerings.], viz oven etc., and also from those others incurred owing to injury etc. caused inadvertently. Tu, but; the papah, unholy persons, who are selfish; ye, who; pacanti, cook; atma-karanat, for themselves; te, they, being themselves sinful; bhunjate, incur; agham, sin. For the following reasons also actions should be undertaken by an eligible person. Action is definitely the cause of the movement of the wheel of the world. How? This is being answered:
3.13 Yajnasista-etc. Those who enjoy the pleasures of obects that have come to them on the authority of laws enjoining what is to be necessarily performed; and who enjoy them viewing [the enjoyment] only as a secondary (or intermediate) action and conseently as a subsidiary having no separate purpose; and again those who enjoy the remnant of the necessary action in the form of gratifying the group of the devas of the snese-organs-that residue of food marked with bliss in being firmly established in their own Self - that is to say, those who have mounted upon the Self and are desirous of enjoying objects only as a means to achieve this end - they are freed from all faults of good and bad. Those, who for their own selves etc. : On the other hand, those who believe, under the influence of ignorance, the sheer superficial enjoyment of objects as their final goal, and act with the notion We perform this [act] for the sake of ourselves - those persons alone gain the sin in the form of good and bad.
3.13 Those persons who acire food materials solely for propitiating the Supreme Person abiding as the Self of Indra and other deities, and who, after cooking them, propitiate, through them, the Supreme Person as He is, and then sustain themselves on the remnants of oblations (made for such propitiation), they alone will be free of impurities which have resulted from beginningless evil and which are inimical to the vision of the self. But they are evil-minded, who acire for selfish use the things which the Supreme Being, abiding as the Self of Indra and other deities, has granted them for worshipping Him with, and use it all on the other hand for feeding themselves - they eat only sin. Turning away from the vision of the self, they cook only for being led to Naraka (for the expiation of the sin incurred thery). Sri Krsna says that, from the standpoint of the world as well as that of the scriptures, everything has its origin in sacrifice; and He speaks of the need for the performance of the sacrifices and of the blemish in not performing the same:
Those who eat the food remnants of yajnas such as the vaisvadeva yajna become freed from all sins caused by the five types of violence to living entities. The five violent actions (panca suna) are described in the smrti: kandani pesani culli udakumbhi ca marjani panca-suna grhasthasya tabhih svargam na vindati The grhastha does not enjoy svarga by commission of the five violent actions towards other living entities caused by using the mortar, grinding stone, the stove, the broom and water pot. Visnu Smrti 59. 19-20
Therefore it can be understood that those humans who perform yagna or worship to the Supreme Lord Krishna are pre-eminent among the human species and not others. This is shown by the word santah meaning they are saintly and virtuous. Those who accept food after first offering it to the Supreme Lord are freed from the sins acquired from the five areas in the home causing harm to any living entity. They are: the mortar and pestle where sometimes extremely small bugs are accidentally killed, the grindstone where microscopic amoebas inside of the seeds are ground to death, the fireplace where sometimes crawling things come into when the fire is out only to be burned to death when the fire is lt, the waterpot where sometimes insects fly into and drown and the broom which while sweeping dirt and dust from the house might also sweep ants and such in such a way as to cause their demise. These are the five areas of harm in the home causing accidental death to harmless creatures as confirmed in the Manu Samhita III. 68. Those sinful wretches who do not first offer what they eat to the Supreme Lord are not freed from any of these sins but they are punished for them and verily day by day they eat only sin. On account of these sins multiplying daily they have no opportunity to attain heaven.
In a very rational way Lord Krishna is praising the saintly performers of yagna by means of worship and offerings and censoring those who fail to perform such yagna. In the previous three verses and this one Lord Krishna has elucidated the science of yagna. The Purusha Sukta in the Rig Veda we see that Brahma the first born is the Purusha offering himself as worship and oblations for the benefit and welfare of creation. By Brahma inaugurating the act of yagna, the perennial principles of existence or dharma were established for all the worlds. Thus by ordaining dharma the Supreme Lord Krishna through his representative Brahma has given mankind the purpose, the objective and the methodology of yagna. One in wisdom should follow in the footsteps of Brahma and offer to the Supreme Lord there very self and essence as an act of worship in yagna.
Those who prepare food from funds honestly acquired with the sole objective of worshipping the Supreme Lord Krishna who resides as the soul within themselves as well as within all the demi-gods and every living entity; and those who only partake of such duly consecrated food become absolved of all sins accumulated over iniquity subatomic and atomic impending the completion and fulfilment of self realisation of the atma or soul. But those sinful wretches who do not first offer to the Supreme Lord what was gifted to them and instead prepare and eat it appropriating it for theirselves verily eat only sin. The word agham meaning sin denotes their will be grave consequences for such sins. Ignorant of the path to atma- tattva or self realisation of the soul, such degraded persons perpetually eat sinful food insuring a hellish destination in their next life. It should be understood that everything is connected to yagna or worship in this world and the next, from both the point of view of sastra or Vedic scripture and from inference. It should also be clearly understood that the observance of yagna is essential for benefit and welfare of all mankind and that its omission purposefully or accidental is counter productive for the entire human race and is fraught with sinfulness and dire consequences.
Those who prepare food from funds honestly acquired with the sole objective of worshipping the Supreme Lord Krishna who resides as the soul within themselves as well as within all the demi-gods and every living entity; and those who only partake of such duly consecrated food become absolved of all sins accumulated over iniquity subatomic and atomic impending the completion and fulfilment of self realisation of the atma or soul. But those sinful wretches who do not first offer to the Supreme Lord what was gifted to them and instead prepare and eat it appropriating it for theirselves verily eat only sin. The word agham meaning sin denotes their will be grave consequences for such sins. Ignorant of the path to atma- tattva or self realisation of the soul, such degraded persons perpetually eat sinful food insuring a hellish destination in their next life. It should be understood that everything is connected to yagna or worship in this world and the next, from both the point of view of sastra or Vedic scripture and from inference. It should also be clearly understood that the observance of yagna is essential for benefit and welfare of all mankind and that its omission purposefully or accidental is counter productive for the entire human race and is fraught with sinfulness and dire consequences.
Yajnashishtaashinah santo muchyante sarva kilbishaih; Bhunjate te twagham paapaa ye pachantyaatma kaaranaat.
yajña-śhiṣhṭa—of remnants of food offered in sacrifice; aśhinaḥ—eaters; santaḥ—saintly persons; muchyante—are released; sarva—all kinds of; kilbiṣhaiḥ—from sins; bhuñjate—enjoy; te—they; tu—but; agham—sins; pāpāḥ—sinners; ye—who; pachanti—cook (food); ātma-kāraṇāt—for their own sake
