In plain words
It is without compassion for living beings. It is bound up with narrow feelings. It is wholly selfish. This tāmasika kind is very dangerous.
So man, knowingly or unknowingly, keeps doing many karmas in daily life. For the atonement of these karmas they laid down five kinds of yajña. The first is Deva-yajña. The second is Pitṛ-yajña. The third is Bhūta-yajña. The fourth is Manuṣya-yajña. The fifth is Ṛṣi-yajña. This is also thought of as Brahma-yajña. We must try to recognise the inner meaning of these yajñas.
In the karmas man does in daily life, many creatures die. Without our knowing it, in grinding, in pounding, in crushing, the lives of many creatures are lost. These are not sins we commit knowingly. Without our knowing it, so many living beings perish. So, for the atonement of such sins, they settled on Deva-yajña. Besides this, in our body, in every single limb, gods dwell as the very form of its essence. That is why they are called Aṅgīrasas. So, because, as that essence, they nourish and protect our limbs, our true duty lies in such tasks as remembering them in gratitude, thinking of them, meditating on them and carrying out svādhyāyana. In the states of sleep, in the states of deep sleep, at times we know nothing of, those very gods keep guarding this body. For people who recognise the truth that this sacred body came for the doing of karma, it is their duty to give thanks to the gods who nourish this body. ‘Śarīramādyaṃ khalu dharmasādhanam.’ For carrying out this karma, this very body is the foundation. That is why expressing our gratitude to these, the gods of the limbs, remembering them gratefully, singing to them, meditating on them and thinking of them, is what they have long called Deva-yajña. Along with this, we must firmly believe that we should perform this yajña to atone, in some measure, for the sins we committed unknowingly, the sins of harming living beings unknowingly.
Next, Pitṛ-yajña. We must enquire too into the inner meaning of this Pitṛ-yajña. When we chop firewood, when we break branches, when we pluck flowers, so many creatures die. So, since these creatures die at the time we do these karmas, we must recognise that we ourselves are the cause of this death, and keep to the way of performing Pitṛ-yajña to atone for this sin.