Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.6.26

nāma-dheyāni mantrāś ca

dakṣiṇāś ca vratāni ca

devatānukramaḥ kalpaḥ

sańkalpas tantram eva ca

SYNONYMS

nāma-dheyāni — invoking the names of the demigods; mantrāḥ — specific hymns to offer to a particular demigod; ca — also; dakṣiṇāḥ — reward; ca — and; vratāni — vows; ca — and; devatā-anukramaḥ — one demigod after another; kalpaḥ — the specific scripture; sańkalpaḥ — the specific purpose; tantram — a particular process; eva — as they are; ca — also.

TRANSLATION

Other necessities include invoking the different names of the demigods by specific hymns and vows of recompense, in accordance with the particular scripture, for specific purposes and by specific processes.

PURPORT

The whole process of offering sacrifice is under the category of fruitive action, and such activities are extremely scientific. They mainly depend on the process of vibrating sounds with a particular accent. It is a great science, and due to being out of proper use for more than four thousand years, for want of qualified brāhmaṇas, such performances of sacrifice are no longer effective. Nor are they recommended in this fallen age. Any such sacrifice undertaken in this age as a matter of show may simply be a cheating process by the clever priestly order. But such a show of sacrifices cannot be effective at any stage. Fruitive action is being carried on by the help of material science and to a little extent by gross material help, but the materialists await a still more subtle advancement in the process of vibrating sounds on which the Vedic hymns are established. Gross material science cannot divert the real purpose of human life. They can only increase the artificial needs of life without any solution to the problems of life; therefore the way of materialistic life leads to the wrong type of human civilization. Since the ultimate aim of life is spiritual realization, the direct way of invoking the holy name of the Lord, as mentioned above, is precisely recommended by Lord Caitanya, and people of the modern age can easily take advantage of this simple process, which is tenable for the condition of the complicated social structure.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness