The Law of Sacrifice

Self-Assessment: "Giving" versus "Getting" in Our Lives:

Be spontaneous, there is no need to justify or explain your opinions...

(a) Pick the five teachings from the 18 below that are most

meaningful to you now and rank them 1 to 5 in importance.

(b) Think: we all have both "giving" and "getting" in our lives. To

what extent is my personal world generally a "giving" or a

"getting" place?

Divide 100 points: _______% giving, _______% getting.

(No ties; it’s the ratio that matters.)

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In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna reveals:

“When I created the world I established the principle of sacrifice…

___ 1) This sacrifice has nothing to do with self-neglect or abuse. It means offering up, worshiping, helping and being devoted to the welfare of all humanity.

___ 2) Sacrifice in this spiritual meaning is a universal law of nature – the ‘spirit of giving’ that permeates all of creation.

___ 3) All action (karma) ties you to the wheel of birth and death except when it is performed as a sacrifice.

___ 4) Make your acts a sacrifice by offering the acts and fruits up to Divinity; then, no karma accrues.

___ 5) Your job in life is to act, but act selflessly, even sacramentally, without thinking of personal benefit.

___ 6) Worship the subtle powers of nature (the devas) that dwell in sacrifice, and they will cherish you. This mutuality is good for all humanity.

___ 7) Do selfless service (which is sacrifice) and your desires are fulfilled, unasked, by those devas.

___ 8) Balance your life: give more than you receive. To receive without giving is stealing.

___ 9) Even eat your food in the spirit of sacrifice, as it frees you from attachment to tastiness and enjoyment.

___10) Eating merely for pleasure is a sin because it diverts you from life’s true goal: achieving Divinity. (‘Sin’ is not evil acts, but veering from God.)

___11) Sacrifice is subtly connected to the very cycle of life: creatures are nourished by food, food is fed by rain, rain is freely given (sacrificed)by nature. All life emanates from the subtle effects of sacrifice.

___12) Service is sacrifice and it actually has Divinity in it. Performing service becomes a subtle but powerful mental force that makes life itself sacred.

___13) Make each of your mental and physical actions an offering (a sacrifice); do it for the universe’s welfare.

___14) Every selfless action, every sacrifice, is born from Brahman, the Godhead—thus Divinity is consciously in attendance in every act of service.

___15) Life itself is turned into a sacrifice when directed to the service of Divinity.

___16) Do your work in the right attitude, do it as service, and it becomes sacrifice—and the universe itself becomes elevated and sublime.

___17) The whole scheme of nature is centered not on grabbing, but on offering selfless action, which is sacrifice.

___18) Sacrifice as a law of life may seem distant, but each selfless act done by anyone anywhere contributes importantly to this mysterious whole.

All life turns on this law of sacrifice (called "the wheel of yajna"). To veer from this law and ignore the needs of others is to live in vain and squander your life.” – Krishna

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