श्रद्धाहुतं यन्मुख इज्यनामभिः ।
न वै तथा चेतनया बहिष्कृते
हुताशने पारमहंस्यपर्यगुः ॥४१॥
aÅ›nÄty anantaḥ khalu tattva-kovidaiḥ
Å›raddhÄ-hutaá¹ yan-mukha ijya-nÄmabhiḥ
na vai tathÄ cetanayÄ bahiá¹£-ká¹›te
hutÄÅ›ane pÄramahaá¹sya-paryaguḥ
aÅ›nÄti - eats; anantaḥ - the Supreme Personality of Godhead; khalu - nevertheless; tattva-kovidaiḥ - persons in knowledge of the Absolute Truth; Å›raddhÄ - faith; hutam - offering fire sacrifices; yat-mukhe - whose mouth; ijya-nÄmabhiḥ - by different names of demigods; na - never; vai - certainly; tathÄ - as much; cetanayÄ - by living force; bahiḥ-ká¹›te - being bereft of; huta-aÅ›ane - in the fire sacrifice; pÄramahaá¹sya - regarding devotees; paryaguḥ - never goes away.
Although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Ananta, eats through the fire sacrifices offered in the names of the different demigods, He does not take as much pleasure in eating through fire as He does in accepting offerings through the mouths of learned sages and devotees, for then He does not leave the association of devotees.
According to Vedic injunctions, a fire sacrifice is held in order to give food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the names of the different demigods. While performing a fire sacrifice, one pronounces the word svÄhÄ in mantras such as indrÄya svÄhÄ and ÄdityÄya svÄhÄ. These mantras are uttered to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead through demigods such as Indra and Ä€ditya, for the Supreme Personality of Godhead says:
nÄhaá¹ tiá¹£á¹hÄmi vaikuṇá¹he
yoginÄá¹ há¹›dayeá¹£u vÄ
tatra tiá¹£á¹hÄmi nÄrada
yatra gÄyanti mad-bhaktÄḥ
“I am not in Vaikuṇá¹ha nor in the hearts of the yogÄ«s. I remain where My devotees engage in glorifying My activities.†It is to be understood that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not leave the company of His devotees.
Fire is certainly devoid of life, but devotees and brÄhmaṇas are the living representatives of the Supreme Lord. Therefore to feed brÄhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas is to feed the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly. It may be concluded that instead of offering fire sacrifices, one should offer foodstuffs to brÄhmaṇas and Vaiṣṇavas, for that process is more effective than fire yajña. The vivid example of this principle in action was given by Advaita Prabhu. When He performed the Å›rÄddha ceremony for His father, He first of all called HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura and offered him food. It is the practice that after finishing the Å›rÄddha ceremony one should offer food to an elevated brÄhmaṇa. But Advaita Prabhu offered food first to HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura, who had taken his birth in a Muhammadan family. Therefore HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura asked Advaita Prabhu why He was doing something which might jeopardize His position in brÄhmaṇa society. Advaita Prabhu replied that He was feeding millions of first-class brÄhmaṇas by offering the food to HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura. He was prepared to talk with any learned brÄhmaṇa on this point and prove definitely that by offering food to a pure devotee like HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura, He was equally as blessed as He would have been by offering food to thousands of learned brÄhmaṇas. When performing sacrifices, one offers oblations to the sacrificial fire, but when such oblations are offered to Vaiṣṇavas, they are certainly more effective.
