________________ -17 represent the physical (kayika) and oral (vacika) acts. The root word 'yaj' means puja or worship and in the present context it refers to all the various modes of worship of God as laid down in the Pancaratra treatises. Thus yajana in its broadest sense includes physical as well as oral acts such as arcana or worship in the form of recitation of the names of God, offering flowers fruits and food, lighting lamps, offering incense and sandal paste. In other words, it covers, as stated by Vedanta Desika, the entire mode of worship prescribed by the Pancaratra treatises29. It may be noted in this connection that the different modes of worship of God mentioned in the Bhagavata-purana30 such as sravana or listening to the glory of God, kirtana or singing, smarana or contemplating His greatness, padasevana or offering worship at His feet, arcana offering flowers with recitation of His names, vandana or prostrating before God, dasya or feeling utter dependence on God, sakhyam or loving disposition towards God and atma-nivedanam or surrendering oneself to God - either singly or collectively will not constitute the direct upaya to moksa as believed by some of the Vaisnava movements of post-Ramanuja period. They only sub-serve bhakti-yoga, which as a rigorous religio-spiritual discipline is the direct means (upaya) to moksa. Thus, according to Ramanuja, yoga in the sense of upaya, which is of the nature of bhakti-yoga, also named as upasana, nididhyasana, dhyana and vidya is not a simple meditation on the Dinner self or God, as propagated widely all over the world by several religious modern movements. But on the contrary, it is a rigorous multi-form ethical, religious and spiritual discipline to be undertaken by a spiritual aspirant and continued over a long time for the purpose of attaining God. giratm on According to the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita, bhakti-yoga can also serve as a means to attainment of other goals such as aisvarya or worldy prosperity, kaivalya or the state of blissful existence of the self and artha or wealth. Accordingly the upasakas or those who adopt the pathway of bhakti, are classified into four groups: Artifor the one who aspires for recovery of the lost wealth, jijnasu or the one who desires to attain the blissful state of one's self, artharthi or the one who wishes to acquire material wealth and jnani or the one who craves to attain God. Of all these, jnani is held in high esteem because 29 See Tatparya-candrika on RB IX-34. bhagavat-sastradi prapancita visayo'yam yajir-iti. 30 Bhagavata VII-5-23 31 V-S.H-3-56 Hana sabdadibhedati Bap. Vll-16, See ale SHB -17
