Understanding the Five Debts: Deva, Pitru, Rishi, and the Meaning of Vows

Question

What is this ṛṇa (debt)?

Answer

I thought about it, and I found five kinds of debts. First, we must understand the meaning of ṛṇa. In the scriptures, ṛṇa is defined as: making a vow and not fulfilling it. If I make a promise to you and I do not complete it, then by not fulfilling it, a debt is created upon me.

Let us understand this with an example. In the Mahabharata, in the episode of Draupadi’s disrobing — when they were trying to disrobe her, she called out to Krishna. But Krishna could not come. Krishna had promised his sister that whenever she faced trouble, he would come instantly to help her. That vow could not be fulfilled because he was far away from Hastinapur. So Krishna says in one place in the Mahabharata, “I carry the debt of my sister Krishnaa.” He calls it a debt because the promise he made to her, he could not complete.

Thus, the meaning of ṛṇa becomes clear: not fulfilling a vow is called a debt. If we understand this, all forms of ṛṇa will become easier to understand.

In today’s reading, there was a line where Rama said that he would become free from his father’s debt if he stayed in the forest for fourteen years. What was the debt? It was a vow. Dasharatha said that Rama must go to the forest for fourteen years. Rama accepted that vow, and if he had not stayed in the forest, he would have remained indebted to his father. But by fulfilling it, he would become free of that debt. So ṛṇa means fulfilling one’s vow.

This is the definition of ṛṇa.

In life there are three debts with which we are born. Most of us come into this world already carrying these three debts:

Deva-ṛṇa
Pitṛ-ṛṇa
Rishi-ṛṇa

Question

What is deva-ṛṇa?

Answer

Earlier we discussed the deities and havya. Deva-ṛṇa means we are indebted to the deities. Why? Because the deities functioning within us — the powers of the body — we do not give them proper nourishment. Therefore, we become indebted to them.

What is their proper nourishment? The scriptures say: you become free from deva-ṛṇa only when you turn your actions into yajña. This is repeated again and again: to be free of the gods’ debt, make your actions into yajña.

Yajña does not mean lighting a physical fire and offering oblations. As the Bhagavad Gita explains repeatedly, making your actions into yajña means performing actions without ego, without doership, and without desire for results.

Doership (kartā-bhāva) comes from ego. All actions are done by the body — by nature. The soul does not act; it only resides within. Because we identify the body as “I,” we say “I act.” But the soul doesn’t act. Nature acts.

So to make our actions yajña, we must act without ego, without the sense of being the doer, and without selfish motives. Only then can we become free of deva-ṛṇa.

We pollute the earth, the water, the air—all out of selfishness. To be free of the gods’ debt, we must act without selfishness. Scriptures say: at birth we are indebted to the gods. If we understand properly, we can attempt to free ourselves.

Question

What is pitṛ-ṛṇa?

Answer

Everything we discussed earlier about havya and kavya applies here. To be free of pitṛ-ṛṇa, scriptures say: perform śrāddha. We do śrāddha during the fifteen days of the Āśvina month. But we do not understand its true meaning.

In śrāddha, feeding a brāhmaṇa is essential. But we take “brāhmaṇa” as merely a man of a certain caste. In truth, feeding the brāhmaṇa means nourishing the Brahman within oneself — the inner Self. Nourishing the Brahman within means remaining in the Self, strengthening the awareness of the Self. If we do this, we become free of pitṛ-ṛṇa.

Because we do not understand this symbolism, difficulties arise in life. At birth, every person carries pitṛ-ṛṇa. We can be free of it only by rightly understanding śrāddha.

Another instruction in scripture is “produce a putra” to satisfy the ancestors. We misunderstood this to mean the physical birth of a son. This has caused much harm. In the Purāṇas, putra always means a quality — a virtue. Every “son” or “daughter” mentioned symbolically represents a quality. Qualities like acceptance, service, compassion, surrender — these are our putras.

If we bring these qualities into our life, our impressions (saṃskāras) are pacified and we become free of pitṛ-ṛṇa. But by taking “son” to mean only a male child, we could never become free of that debt.

So in every Purāṇa, whenever you read “putra,” you must understand it as a virtue.

Question

What is ṛṣi-ṛṇa?

Answer

Scriptures say that to be free of ṛṣi-ṛṇa, one must do svādhyāya, study the Vedas, and study the scriptures. Svādhyāya means studying our scriptures. The teachings of the sages are preserved in the Vedas and scriptures. We are indebted to them because we have not followed their teachings.

So, to become free of ṛṣi-ṛṇa, we must study the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata — all our scriptures.

Question

What about the other debts mentioned?

Answer

There is the father’s debt — fulfilling the promises made to the father. This is easy and is not counted among the main debts.

There is brāhmaṇa-ṛṇa — giving donations to a brāhmaṇa so that he, engaged in study, does not have to struggle for livelihood. This too is simple.

There is atithi-ṛṇa — when a guest comes, do not take him as a burden. Serve him without negativity.

There is mātā-pitā-ṛṇa — honoring and serving one’s parents.

Ramayana even mentions the “wife’s debt.” Dasharatha had made a vow to Kaikeyi that he would grant her two boons. Because of that vow, he became indebted to her. If he had not fulfilled her request, he could not free himself from that debt.

So the definition of ṛṇa is simple: a vow once made must be fulfilled. If we do not fulfill it, we remain indebted.

Among all these, the main debts that require effort, discipline, and true work are:

Deva-ṛṇa
Pitṛ-ṛṇa
Rishi-ṛṇa

The rest are simple and not counted as primary debts.