The meaning of Animal Sacrifice in Yajna

Question

Sister, in this story where the idea of bali (sacrifice) comes up — could you please explain what it really means?

Answer

Yes. Usually, when we don’t understand the true purpose behind the yajnas (sacrificial rituals), we think that during those ceremonies, animals were actually killed as offerings. So our mind immediately goes there — that in Indian culture, animals were sacrificed in fire rituals.

But here, the animal sacrifice is symbolic. Every yajna is symbolic. Through these symbols, the scriptures point toward deeper spiritual truths.

So, when it is said that an animal was “cut” in the yajna, what they actually did was make an effigy — a figure of straw or grain — and cut that symbolically with a sword. Spiritually, the animal represents the pāśa, the bondage that ties us down. The word pāśa means the knots or attachments that bind us.

Because people later failed to understand this spiritual meaning, they began to think the outer ritual itself was the truth. So they started believing, “In Indian culture, animals are sacrificed in yajnas.” But these were only symbolic representations meant to convey inner truths.

Our Yajurveda, which is the Veda of yajnas, uses these symbols to express spiritual ideas. The rituals themselves were never independent ends — they were symbolic methods. Due to ignorance, we mistook the symbol for reality.

Question

So, where the texts talk about sacrificing an animal, should we understand it as a stage of sadhana (practice) — where we overcome or renounce our animal-like tendencies? Meaning, we sacrifice our lower instincts, or “kill” our animal thoughts and impulses? Can we take it that way?

Answer

Absolutely. The word pashu (animal) here refers to animal-like thoughts, emotions, tendencies, habits, actions, perceptions, and personality. Everything in us that is instinctual or unrefined falls under pashu.

So, when the texts say “bring a man to sacrifice,” it hints that we must sacrifice the animal nature within the human being. The “man” (purusha) symbolizes the human level of awareness, and what must be cut away is the pashutva — the animal nature still clinging to it.

Thousands of years ago, our sages used symbolic practices and external devices to explain deeper truths. For a time, people understood them correctly. But as human understanding declined, distortions crept in. In ignorance, we took the outer act literally and believed that yajnas involved actual animal killing.

In the Vedas, the words used — avi, aja, etc. — were not meant for physical animals. Aja was taken to mean “goat,” avi was taken to mean “sheep,” because avi also means “wool-bearing being.” Over time, this literal reading became widespread, and the deeper meaning was lost.

Later generations forgot that these were metaphors. For example, the yupa — the post fixed for the sacrifice — was never just a wooden pole. In the Vedas, it symbolizes the jivatma, the individual soul.

My brother studied the yajnas deeply all his life, and through his research, it became clear that the yupa represents the soul, and the sacrifice represents the purification of the self — freeing it from bondage.

Understanding all this made me realize how necessary it is for us to interpret our scriptures correctly — in their true, spiritual context.