Conclusion
Yoga vs. Yagna
Laden souls are repeatedly born into physical bodies (from virus to human) to undergo life’s rollercoaster ride of pleasure & pain of their own doing. Those who realize this seek to avoid pain & increase pleasure. They then choose Yoga and Yagna as per their residual blessings.
Both Yagna & Yoga are paths to ultimate liberation from life’s sufferings. While Yoga is a personal practice, Yagna is a group practice.
The Yogic path starts from Karma Yoga (selflessly doing one’s duty), moves on to Gnana Yoga (studying God), and ends at Bhakti Yoga (experiencing God). This linear process of the evolution of the soul happens over several lifetimes.
The Yagnic path encompasses the Pancha Maha Yagna (the 5 great sacrifices) to be performed by householders as part of their Karma Yoga, so families can collectively progress towards enlightenment. Here, enlightened teachers/ bhakti yogis (priests, rabbis, imams, bhikkus, nirgranthas, gurus, et al.) facilitate that journey.
From the Creator to the Creator
Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. The sum total energy in the universe remains constant. For the amusement of the Creator, pieces (Jeevatma/ Soul) of the Universal Energy (Paramatma) take physical forms (per E=mc2) and experience life.
The pure soul first takes the physical form of Human. Immediately, the pure energy is tainted with the fruits of its actions. Now, the soul cannot go back to its source until it rids itself of both positive & negative fruits that keep it trapped in the physical plane.
After suffering greatly over millions of births (from bacteria to blue whale), the beleaguered soul realizes the futility & illusion (maya) of the material plane & begins its journey towards the Source. This is when it starts burning its debts/ sins & accumulates blessings. As the negative fruits are cancelled out by the positive ones, the soul begets a “high birth” as a Yogi.
Once the yogic soul cancels out all its positive & negative karmic fruits (i.e., zero balance for account closing), it becomes pure & divine again. Now, all suffering ends, the Karma Chakra grinds to a halt, and the orphaned soul successfully finds its way back to the Creator. The End! 😇