THE ESSENCE OF BERYADNYA IN RELIGION AND ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

On the religious life in Bali, we know there are three basic frameworks of Hinduism, called tattwa (philosophy), susila (ethics), and ceremony (yadnya). Like an egg, tattwa is the core of Hinduism or its true purpose in Hinduism. Susila is the procedure or rules for achieving the core goals of Hinduism which are usually closely related to the culture and habits of the local community, while ceremonies or upakara (yadnya) are part of the skin in Hindu religious goals. So, for Hindu society in Bali, when they want to reach the ultimate goal in Hinduism, they must pass its efforts first. After examining the efforts, they will face ethics (susila) in Hinduism, and finally they will find tattwa. When the main goal can be found, the ceremonial skin will disappear. When we meet the contents, the skin is meaningless, but the skin is very important to maintain the contents. Through the skin can be known there is content in it, there is meaning in it. But we often give priority to the skin because we do not know yet its contents. We even glorify the skin without peeling and looking for its contents.

That's what happened to Hindu community in Bali, where many Balinese dare to make “skin“ (upakara) without wanting to peel it and without wanting to find its contents (tattwa) even though we know the skin is meaningless without contents. Like an egg, if the skin without contents, it means rotten egg (not valuable). The Balinese can only make upakara without wanting to know what the meaning of the upakara. Some Balinese consider that making upakara is already religious, whereas if we know the philosophy or meaning of upakara, then we will know tattwa or the content in the implementation of the ceremony.

Bhagavadgita explained that from the wealth owned by Hindus, one third of it should be used for yadnya, one third is used for life, and another third is used for investment. So clearly only one third of the wealth is used for their faith in religion. From the one third of the wealth, it will be divided into five yadnya called Panca Yadnya those are Dewa Yadnya, Manusa Yadnya, Butha Yadnya, Pitra Yadnya, and Rsi Yadnya. So if we carry out one of the yadnya, then it is only 5% of the total wealth that we have. It would be wise if only 5% for yadnya, so we can continue to have a normal life and have investment from total wealth that we have.

The phenomenon that occurs at the Hindus in Bali today is very much different. If there are people who have 10 million rupiah in cash, they spent 15 million for yadnya, so 5 million is in the form of credit (loans) in banks. After finishing the yadnya, they will work hard to pay the debts. So, is this the goal of Hinduism? Doesn't God want humans to live with the aim of making people more valuable and better living?

This is greatly influenced by the lack of human knowledge about the content (tattwa) from the ceremony itself. According to lontar Shiva Gama “banten satus dulang alah dening banten adulang, banten adulang alah dening canang sari, canang sari alah dening sembah”. It means all kinds of yadnya and how much it spent, the core is sincere devotion. But because in Bali the religion is wrapped in ethics, art, and culture, yadnya is a must be made. But the emphasis is it does not have to be big but complete.

In Weda Parikrama also explained that yadnya does not have to be large in quantity, because small yadnya does not reducing the quality. The level of yadnya can be devided into 3 level of yadnya. They are utama, madya, and nista. Banten at nista level does not mean that the quality is small, but the quality is the same as banten utama, it's just that the quantity is smaller. The most important part which is the essence of banten is pejati, the core of pejati is canang, the core of canang is sincere devotion. It means that if one day there is no material of banten, it is sufficient in the implementation of yadnya. The question is whether we worship with sincere devotion, have we done yadnya? Maybe for some people it will be difficult to believe that by worshiping they have made it. As explained in the Sulinggih Puja Mantra "Om Ksama Swamam Maha Dewa, Sarwa Prani Hitangkaram" so when the Sulinggih “mapuja surya sewana”, then his body is used as banten. This sort of thing has never been explained by our "People's Guidance" and is rarely explained about the level of ceremonies, so that when people come to ask about yadnya, they only gives a "death sentence" for their faith, without giving a choice, without giving meaning in their yadnya, just talking about the cost of it, and the implementation of the ceremony.

Therefore, through this article let us change our paradigm in religion, especially for Hindus in Bali. Religiously in social aspects through tattwa and Balinese culture. Intellectually religious, we must sort out and choose how to perform it properly without having to harm ourselves, and also based on economy, i.e. it must be full of calculations (can sort and choose to be right on target), but don't count it (calculate profit and loss). Religious in the spiritual aspect by knowing the meaning and tattwa of all ceremonies so that the ceremony can give more value to, by, and for those who carry out the ceremony.