Disobeying all the prescriptions laid down in the scriptures and acting against all Vedic injunctions — contrary to all the principles laid down by the Science of right living — the sacrifices performed become of the lowest type. Such a sacrifice cannot at all bring about happiness either to the performer, or in its final analysis, to his generation.

WITHOUT DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD — The utter necessities of life are, in the vocabulary of the modern age, indicated by the familiar phrase ‘food-clothing-shelter.’ In the scriptural language of Hinduism, the term ‘food’ indicates all these necessities of life. A man of sacrifice and right action cannot expect any inner development because of his actions, unless they are accompanied by a mental development and an expansion in love which makes him share whatever he has with the have-nots.

Apart from the above-mentioned two, when rituals are conducted without mantra or without distribution of reward for the educated (Dakshina), those sacrifices are classified as Tamasic.

IN ORDER TO CLASSIFY THE THREE TYPES OF TAPAS, PURSUED BY THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PEOPLE, HERE WE HAVE THREE CONSECUTIVE STANZAS DEFINING AND EXPLAINING WHAT TAPAS REALLY MEANS:

Paricaksate, they delclare; that yajnam, sacrifice; as tamasam, done through tamas; which is vidhi-hinam, contrary to injunction, opposed to what is enjoined; asrstannam, in which food is not distributed-a sacrifice in which food (annam) is not distributed (asrstam) to Brahmanas; mantra-hinam, in which mantras are not used, which is bereft of mantras, intonation and distinct pronunciation; adaksinam, in which offerings are not made to priests as prescribed; and which is sraddha-virahitam, devoid of faith. After that, now is being stated the three kinds of austerity: