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GITA, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CHAP. IV 957
Yoga in the shape of Mental control, which has been lit by Knowledge (jñāna).
[In the above stanza, are described two or three different kinds of symbolical Yajñas e. g., (1) controlling the senses, that is, allowing them to perform their respective functions within proper limits; (2) totally destroying the senses, by wholly giving up the objects of sense, which go to feed the senses; (3) putting an end to the Actions, not only of the senses, but even of the vital forces (prāna) themselves, by entering into a complete mental absorption (samādhi), and remaining steeped in the joy of the Atman. Now, if these are compared with a Yajña, then, in the first kind of Yajña, the limit (samyamana) which is placed on the senses becomes the Fire (agni); because, by working out the simile, all that enters the limit may be said to have been offered into the Fire Similarly, in the second kind of Yajña, the organs themselves, and in the third kind of Yajña, both the organs and the prāna (vital forces) are compared with the material offered up as a sacrifice offering, and the Control of the Ātman (atmasamyamana) becomes the Fire. There are, besides, others, who only perform the Prānāyāma (i. e., control of the Prāna (life) in the shape of the breathTrans.); and these are described further on in the 29th stanza. This idea of symbolically extending the original meaning of the word 'yajña', namely, 'a sacrifice of various materials, and making it include religious austerities (tapa), Renunciation (sainyāsa), Mental absorption (samādhi), control of the prāna or breath (prūnāyāma), and other means of getting merged into the Blessed Lord, has not been mentioned for the first time in the Gītā. In the 4th chapter of the Manu-Smrti, where the state of the house-holder is being described, after stating that no house-holder should give up the five principal sacrifices (mahā-yajña) prescribed by the Smrtis, namely, the Rsi-yajña, the Deva-yajña, the Bhūta-yajña, the Manusya-yajña, and the Pitr-yajña, it is stated that many persons "sacrifice the speech into the organs, or the Prāna (life) into the speech, or ultimately even propitiate
