The universal cycle of sacrifice
Big Bang? The Vedas offer a different perspective: Human life has a higher purpose and the whole universe is organized in a way that propels us to it as part of a great universal cycle of sacrifice.
We learn in school that the universe appeared from a mass of energy or a singularity, which organized itself into stars and planets without a superior force, eventually leading to the appearance of life. All of this, they teach us, happened by chance, and human life has no higher purpose apart from satisfying our immediate desires. Since everything ends at death, even morality is questionable since if one is smart enough to escape punishment from law enforcement, there will be no consequences for his actions.
The Vedas, however, offer a different perspective: We are eternal beings entrapped in the cycle of samsara, and human life is an opportunity to escape from it, reconnecting ourselves with our eternally blissful and eternal nature. Human life has a higher purpose and the whole universe is organized in a way that propels us to it as part of a great universal cycle of sacrifice.
This process is described in several of the Upanisads, including the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, Chandogya Upanishad and Mundaka Upanisad.
The Mundaka Upanisad, for example, starts by explaining how the Supreme Lord created the universe from His energy:
Text 2.1.3:
etasmāj jāyate prāṇo manaḥ sarvendriyāṇi ca
khaṁ vāyur jyotir āpaḥ pṛthivī viśvasya dhāriṇī
"From the Lord arises the life force (prāṇa), the mind (manas), and the senses (indriyas), as well as the five elements, ether, air, fire, water, and earth, which support the entire creation."
Text 2.1.4:
agnir mūrddhā cakṣuṣī candra-sūryo
diśaḥ śrotre vāg vivṛtāś ca vedāḥ
vāyuḥ prāṇo hṛdayaṁ viśvam asya
padbhyām pṛthivī hy eṣa sarva-bhūtāntarātmā
"The higher planets form his head. The sun and moon are his two eyes. The directions are his ears. The Vedas are his function of speech. The vital airs His energy. The universe is his heart. The earth is his two feet. He is the soul of all beings."
This description may sound mythological at first, but it actually describes a very advanced concept, that is the idea of the universal form or Virat-puruṣa.
Although the Lord has no material form, different parts and potencies of the universe are described as part of His universal form to help us understand how they are connected with the Lord and how everything comes from Him. It is also a way to facilitate our meditation on Him, seeing the Lord everywhere we look. When we can perfectly understand the concept of the universal form, we can, literally, see the Lord anywhere we look.
The universal form is described in both the Bhagavad-Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam, but the descriptions vary according to the different aspects emphasized. Here again, the description is different, although the purpose is similar.
In one sense, the universe is a form of the Lord, because it is created from His energy, but in another sense, the universal form is imaginary because the Lord has no material form. As in other points of our philosophy, both sides are simultaneously valid.
In this way, the higher planets represent the head of the Virat-purusha, the universal form, and the sun and moon represent his eyes. Normally, we can't hear the Lord speaking because of our material ears, but we can hear Him through the Vedas, therefore the Vedas represent his speech. The breath of the Lord is the vital air that sustains all living beings, etc.
From this universal form, all bodies are generated, and in this way, we are also part of this gigantic Virat-purusha. Since our bodies are also part of the Lord, they should be used in His service, just like everything else we may possess. This is emphasized by the description that the Earth is situated at His lotus feet. Being situated at His feet, we are in the right place to worship Him.
Up to here, we get the idea that the Lord created the material universe and that everything is connected with Him. However, a question remains: what is the purpose of this creation, and what is our role in it? The answer comes in the next verses.
Text 2.1.5
tasmād agniḥ samidho yasya sūryaḥ
somāt parjanya oṣadhayaḥ pṛthivyām
pumān retaḥ siñcati yositāyāṁ
bahvīḥ prajāḥ puruṣāt samprasūtāḥ
"From the Lord arose the heavens, which are kindled by the energy of the Sun. From the heavens arose the moon. From the moon arose plants on earth, which sustain all beings. The man impregnates the woman producing offspring. In this way, from the Supreme Lord, many offspring are born."
This verse introduces the pañcāgni-vidyā, knowledge of five sacrificial fires. This teaches us how everything in the universe is interconnected as a great cycle of sacrifices, of which we are also part.
The planets in the higher planetary systems, inhabited by demigods and great sages are the first sacrificial fire, and they are maintained by the sun, manifested from the energy of the Lord. The sun is thus considered its firewood, and the day its flame. In that fire, the demigods offer their devotion (śraddhā), and from this offering, Soma appears. Soma is connected with both the soma-rasa elixir, enjoyed by the demigods, and the moon.
The second sacrificial fire in the teachings is Parjanyaḥ, or Indra, the demigod who controls the rain. The firewood is the year and the flame is lightening. The demigods offer soma-rasa into this fire as an oblation, and from this, rain is produced.
The third sacrificial fire is our physical world, of which the planet Earth is the firewood. All life on Earth is manifested from the planet, but being the combination of matter and spirit, living beings are different from the planet itself, just like fire is different from wood, even though it burns from wood. The night is indicated as the flame of this fire (indicating the darkness of our plane, compared with the light of higher realms), and the stars we can see at night are the sparks. The demigods offer rain as an oblation to this fire, and from these oblations, plants that produce grains and other types of food appear.
The fourth sacrificial fire is the man (puruṣa). This fire is maintained through the mouth and speech is its flame. The demigods offer food into this fire, and from these oblations, semen and the capacity of generation appear.
The fifth sacrificial fire is the woman. The flame of this sacrificial fire is the womb, and the sparks are the material happiness of family life, which is centered around the wife. Into this sacrificial fire, semen is offered as an oblation, and from this sacrificial act, children are born, who grow into Brahmans, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras, etc. maintaining human society. All these different members of society are meant to live and practice sacrifices, culminating with devotional service. In the end, their bodies are offered into the funeral fire. The soul then goes upwards in the direction of the higher planets, or the spiritual world, concluding the cycle of sacrifice.
One who fails to participate in this cycle of sacrifice, however, goes down in the direction of the lower planets, animal species, or hell. Human life offers thus a great opportunity for finally becoming free from the cycle of human life, but at the same time, a great risk. We should thus understand this cycle of sacrifice and our part in it to be able to live a progressive life.
In this way, this pañcāgni-vidyā, or teaching of the five sacrificial fires describes how everything in the universe comes from the Lord and is interconnected in a cosmic cycle of sacrifices that culminates in devotional service to the Lord. The process of sacrifice in itself is incomplete, elevating one only up to Brahmaloka, at the maximum (as Prabhupada explains in his purport to Bg. 8.16) but if by practicing it one is elevated to the platform of devotional service, one can go back to Godhead.
Prabhupada explains this Vedic process of ascension on his purport to Bg 8.28: "After the student studies the Vedas under the master for some time – at least from age five to twenty – he becomes a man of perfect character. Study of the Vedas is not meant for the recreation of armchair speculators, but for the formation of character. After this training, the brahmacārī is allowed to enter into household life and marry. When he is a householder, he has to perform many sacrifices so that he may achieve further enlightenment. He must also give charity according to the country, time and candidate, discriminating among charity in goodness, in passion and in ignorance, as described in Bhagavad-gītā. Then after retiring from household life, upon accepting the order of vānaprastha, he undergoes severe penances – living in forests, dressing with tree bark, not shaving, etc. By carrying out the orders of brahmacarya, householder life, vānaprastha and finally sannyāsa, one becomes elevated to the perfectional stage of life. Some are then elevated to the heavenly kingdoms, and when they become even more advanced they are liberated in the spiritual sky, either in the impersonal brahma-jyotir or in the Vaikuṇṭha planets or Kṛṣṇaloka. This is the path outlined by Vedic literatures. The beauty of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, is that by one stroke, by engaging in devotional service, one can surpass all the rituals of the different orders of life."
The demigods perform their different functions in maintaining the cosmic mechanism to give human beings a chance to come to the platform of Krishna Consciousness, and as human beings, we should be mindful and not waste this rare opportunity.
This cycle of sacrifice is also described in the third chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita. The Prajāpati (Lord Brahma, or in a deeper meaning, Lord Vishnu) created all living beings and ordered them to perform sacrifices because, by the performance of such sacrifices, they could obtain everything desirable and achieve liberation. The sacrifices performed by human beings please the demigods, who reciprocate by sending rain, which in turn produces food grains, which are meant to be offered in sacrifice, restarting the cycle. By the performance of dharma (prescribed duties), a human being grows in detachment and spiritual realization, going from the platform of executing fruitive sacrifices to obtain material results (karma-kanda) to the platform of devotional service, starting with sakama karma-yoga, and progressing to niskama karma-yoga. In this way, one gradually learns how to work for the Lord in a detached spirit, which is the path to perfection in human life. Devotional service is the real, supreme dharma, that eclipses the temporary material duties.
The teaching of the 5th fire also describes human sexuality in the context of this cycle of sacrifices. In the Gita (7.11), Krishna says He is sex life which is not contrary to religious principles. Both men and women desire material happiness and such mutual material happiness can be obtained through the institution of marriage. When one gets married, there is the ceremony of Vivaha-yajña, which indicates the beginning of a sacrifice that is concluded only when one enters into renounced life or dies. In this way, the whole family life is a continuous process of sacrifice, where one executes religious duties and thus grows in spiritual understanding. Inside of family life, the main duty is to beget and educate a few children giving them a chance of participating in this cycle of sacrifice and going back to Godhead. In this context, human sexuality can be used positively.
In modern societies, responsible married life and parenthood are often frowned upon, but Prabhupada classifies this as propaganda from demons, as part of their efforts to destroy society. Not everyone has the nature or qualification to be renunciants, and therefore, without being trained and engaged in religious family life, they express their sexuality in all kinds of perverted ways that are not favorable for their spiritual development. Outside of family life, sex life is always sinful in one way or another, and sin is something that pushes us away from God. It is a given that even the most sinful person can be saved by sincerely chanting the holy names, but a pious life makes things much easier.