The verse and its meaning · Uddhava Gita · Uddhava Gita — Worship

Preparing the Sacred Fire

Bhagavata Purana 11.27.36

विधिना विहिते कुण्डे मेखलागर्तवेदिभिः । अग्निमाधाय परितः समूहेत् पाणिनोदितम् ॥ परिस्तीर्याथ पर्युक्षेद् अन्वाधाय यथाविधि । प्रोक्षण्याऽऽसाद्य द्रव्याणि प्रोक्ष्याग्नौ भावयेत माम्

Meaning · English

In a fire-pit made by the rule, with its raised rim, its hollow and its altar, let the worshipper set the fire and gather it around with the hand as taught. Then let him spread grass around it and sprinkle water around it, and lay the fuel in due order. With the sprinkling vessel he sets out the offerings, sprinkles them, and then, in the fire, he meditates on me.

Krishna is describing worship in fire, and he begins with the ground, not the flame. Three words name the pit. Kunda is the fire-pit itself. Mekhala is its girdle, the raised rim. Vedi is the altar, the prepared platform. The pit is made by the rule, so nothing in it is improvised. Then the fire is set and gathered by hand, so it burns in one tended place. Grass is spread around it, and water is sprinkled around it. The fuel is laid in order. Prokshani is the small vessel of water used to sprinkle the offerings, so that what is placed in the fire has first been made ready. Every clause is a step of making things clean, ordered and near at hand. Only the last clause names the purpose: in the fire, the worshipper meditates on Krishna. Uddhava has just heard how to worship Krishna in an image, with cloth, scent, lamps and food. Fire is the next place Krishna offers. The care comes first because an offering made in a hurry has no attention in it, and attention is what the offering carries. The commentators read the careful order as a way of gathering the mind before the offering begins. Krishna asks of Uddhava only that the preparing be done properly, and that Krishna himself be held in mind as the fire burns.

Before guests arrive, a host clears the table, spreads a clean cloth, sets out the plates and fills the water jug. Nobody has eaten yet, but the welcome has begun. The laid pit, the grass, the sprinkled water and the arranged fuel are that welcome, made ready for Krishna.

1. This evening, choose one spot at home for a small lamp. Wipe it clean with a cloth. 2. Set out everything before you begin: the lamp, oil or ghee, a wick, a matchbox, a small bowl of water. 3. Sprinkle a few drops of water around the lamp. Light it slowly and keep the flame away from curtains and paper. 4. Sit for one minute, thinking of Krishna in the flame. Notice how your mind has slowed after the preparing.

A man stands in his mother's kitchen on the morning of his father's first death anniversary. His hands are unsteady and his mind runs ahead to who will arrive and what might go wrong. Krishna's order of work gives him something to do with those hands. He wipes the spot, lays out the lamp and the fuel, sprinkles the water, and arranges the offerings one by one. Each step is small, finishable and in sequence, so the mind has one thing to hold at a time. By the time the flame is lit, the room and the man are both more settled than when he came in. Ordinary experience bears this out: doing familiar tasks in a set order steadies a restless mind. The verse does not take the grief away, and it does not promise that the hands will stop shaking. It also asks nothing of the body beyond care. An open flame needs ordinary caution indoors, with children, cloth and paper kept clear of it.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Sweet Foods and Festival Song · Bhagavata Purana 11.27.34
• Next: The Four-Armed Form · Bhagavata Purana 11.27.38
• All of Uddhava Gita · Ask Krishna about it

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