6. IMPORTANCE OF PAÑCAMAHĀYAJÑA[1]
Once there lived a king named Vasu, who was both brave and righteous. By worshipping Lord Viṣṇu and performing virtuous deeds, he pleased the Lord. In due course, he renounced all royal pleasures. After entrusting the kingdom to his eldest son Vivasvān, Vasu proceeded to the holy place Puṣkara. There he began severe penance, reciting the sacred hymn of Puṇḍarīkākṣa.
While he was chanting, a short-statured person with reddish eyes and a blue complexion emerged from his body. With folded hands he asked, “What is to be done by me?”
The king said, “O hunter! Who are you? What do you desire? From where have you come?”
The hunter replied, “O King! In Kaliyuga, you were the ruler of Dakṣiṇāpatha, residing at Janasthāna. Once, when you went to the forest for hunting, you unknowingly killed a sage who had assumed the form of a deer. Distressed by the sin of brahmahatyā, you sought a way to free yourself from it. Meditating upon Lord Nārāyaṇa, you observed the sacred vow of Dvādaśī and offered a cow according to religious injunctions. At that very moment, you died due to stomach‑ache.
I was dwelling within your body and therefore I know all that happened. Later, you were born in the house of King Sumanā, where you performed many sacrificial rites. I remained in your hair and could not be released by those rites, for they lacked remembrance of Lord Viṣṇu. Now, by the power of the hymn of Puṇḍarīkākṣa uttered by you, I have been released and have attained the form of a hunter.”
Hearing this, the king—wonder‑struck—said, “You shall become famous by the name Dharmavyādha, for you have reminded me of my previous birth.” Saying thus, the king ascended an aerial car and attained union with the Supreme Being.
Dharmavyādha thereafter lived by hunting animals to support his family. Though a hunter by profession, he was righteous and regular in performing rituals such as offering oblations to the ancestors. He had a son named Arjunaka and a daughter named Arjunakī. When Arjunakī attained the age suitable for marriage, Dharmavyādha gave her in marriage to the son of the sage Mataṅga.
Arjunakī was pious and diligent in all household duties. One day, for a trivial mistake, her mother‑in‑law scolded her saying, “You are the daughter of a hunter. You do not know how to perform penance or how to attend properly to your husband.” When Dharmavyādha learned of this incident, he went to his daughter’s house. Sage Mataṅga welcomed him respectfully with seat, water, and other offerings.
Mataṅga asked, “What can I do for you?” Dharmavyādha replied, “I am a hunter by profession, whereas you practise non‑violence. I have come here to receive food devoid of life.”
Mataṅga offered him cooked grains such as rice and wheat. Dharmavyādha rose from his seat and began to leave without eating. When the sage stopped him and asked the reason, Dharmavyādha said:
“I shall eat in your house only if you offer well‑cooked food free from living organisms. Brahmā created plants and creepers for the purpose of sacrifice. Likewise, the pañcamahāyajñas were instituted by Brahmā, through whose performance food becomes purified. In the absence of these rites, rice and similar grains are considered equivalent to birds and animals. I do not see the observance of these sacrificial rites in your home.
I hunt one animal a day to nourish my family, and we eat it only after offering it to guests. But you, by not performing the pañcamahāyajñas, kill countless lives and eat with your family. I cannot partake of food in a house where such a great sin has been committed.”
Dharmavyādha then departed, advising the sage to perform expiatory rites for the sin of neglecting the pañcamahāyajñas.
Moral of the Story
One who fails to perform the pañcamahāyajñas becomes responsible for the destruction of innumerable living beings and incurs the sins arising from the five places of slaughter—namely the hearth, the grinding‑stone, the broom, the pestle and mortar, and the water‑vessel.
7. HONESTY
Once there lived a brāhmin named Dayāruci. He regularly performed Agnihotra and other Vedic rites. He treated brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, and śūdra with equal regard, and never ate without first offering food to the gods and to guests.
One winter, when the cold was severe, no guest arrived because of the harsh weather. After completing his Agnihotra, Dayāruci waited for a guest, but none came. Saddened that he had no one to offer food to, he remained standing with sincere expectation. Pleased by his devotion, the God of Fire, wishing to test him, assumed the form of a Caṇḍāla with a fearsome appearance and approached his house.
Seeing the Caṇḍāla standing under a nyagrodha tree—weak from hunger, thirst, and the biting cold, rain, and wind—Dayāruci worshipped him according to Vedic injunctions, giving no importance to caste, creed, or colour.
The Caṇḍāla ate the food offered to him while standing under the tree. Deeply moved by Dayāruci’s sincerity and his hospitality without discrimination, he resolved to reward him. Knowing well that brāhmins—regarded as gods on earth—do not value gold, rich food, or other luxuries, the Caṇḍāla decided to take Dayāruci to Brahmaloka.
To test him further, the Caṇḍāla entered the house and asked Dayāruci for fire to protect himself from the cold. The kind-hearted Dayāruci offered fire in a bowl. Then, at the Caṇḍāla’s instruction, he offered oblations into the sacred fire, chanting Vedic hymns at the auspicious moment.
Immediately, the sounds of conches, drums, and dundubhis resounded from the sky. A celestial chariot made of gold appeared, adorned with golden seats and beautiful flags. The guardian of the chariot said: “Please enter. The deities are delighted by your honesty and sincerity. I shall take you to Brahmaloka.” Dayāruci replied: “I will not go alone, leaving behind my family and this Caṇḍāla who is my guest. If I abandon my guest out of greed, the gods themselves will cast me away.”
With the guardian’s permission, Dayāruci took his relatives and the Caṇḍāla with him, and thus reached Brahmaloka.
Moral of the Story: Any righteous deed, when performed with sincerity and integrity, yields unfailing fruit.
[1] Teaching and studying the Vedas constitute the Brahma‑yajña, the sacred offering to Brahman (the Veda itself). Offering water and food in the form of tarpaṇa is the Pitṛ‑yajña, the sacrifice to the manes. Burnt oblations in the sacred fire form the Deva‑yajña, the sacrifice offered to the gods. Bali‑offering, in which food is placed for unseen beings, is the Bhūta‑yajña, the sacrifice to bhūtas and living creatures. Hospitable reception of guests is the Manuṣya‑yajña, the offering made to human beings.