Canto
3
Chapter 32: The Entanglement in Fruitive Activities
(1) Kapila said: 'The person now, factually living at home doing the duties of a householder, enjoys again and again the advantages of sense gratification, economic benefits and religious performances. (2) Moreover has he, infatuated by lust, turned away from devotional service to the Supreme Lord [called nivritti-dharma] in his faithfully worshiping the gods and the forefathers with ceremonies of sacrifice [called pravritti-dharma]. (3) Overcome by a mind of belief vowed to those forefathers and demigods, will the person thus being gone again return back to the world of the lunar order by drinking the soma [beverage drunk by the brahmin of sacrifice]. (4) When Lord Hari lies Himself down on the snakebed of Ananta S'esha, do those very worlds of the ones attached to their household find their dissolution. (5) Those intelligent who to their own duties did not take advantage for the sake of sense-gratification and material benefits and who, free from material attachment, gave up on their fruitive activities, will of a purified consciousness find satisfaction. (6) In the constant engagement in the [nivritti-dharma] religious acts for detachment in giving up claims of property and egoism is one by the goodness and consciousness of acting according one's own duty completely purified. (7) Following the path of enlightenment they approach the Original Personality of God reflected in the faces of all, who rules over the spirit as well as the matter and is the cause of the manifestation and dissolution of the world. (8) To the end of two parârdhas, which is the end of Brahmâ himself [see 3-11], they indeed dwell for such a long time on the planet of the Supreme, immersed in thoughts of the beyond. (9) At that time he, the chief, Lord Brahmâ, desiring to dissolve the covering of earth, water, fire, ether, mind, senses, objects, ego and so on, enters the changeless spiritual sky after having experienced the time consisting of the three modes. (10) Thus covering such a long period of time of Lord Brahmâ, do those yogis, who did not give up the responsibility for their bodies in controlling the breath and the mind in detachment with him, indeed together enter the Original Person, the embodiment of bliss, the oldest of the primary reality of the spirit. (11) Therefore, My dear mother, take by devotional service to the shelter of Him you now heard about, who resides in the lotus hearts of all. (12-15) The creator of the living and the lifeless, who is the repository of the Vedas, along with the sages and masters of yoga, the Kumâras and the other perfected ones and fountainheads of yoga, were despite of having other ideas in their independence as a doer, not after material results in their actions and had the qualities of the Original Person of Brahman, the first incarnation. He at the time who has attained again by time the position of Mastery, is born as previously when the interaction to the modes reappears. Having enjoyed again [the true nectar of reunion after dissolution] do the sages by their pious activities, as also the royal opulence produced thereof, all together return, when that interaction to the modes takes place.
(16) Those who in their thinking in this world are a slave of fruitive action, for sure perform with faith their prescribed duties in attachment to the result and do so time and again. (17) Driven by passion, are their minds, aspiring for gratification, full of anxieties, are their senses out of control and do they daily at home engage themselves in the worship of their forefathers. (18) Those [trai-vargika] persons who are after the tree benefits [of economy, sense gratification and religious service] are not interested in the pastimes of Lord Hari, the killer of the demon Mâdhu, whose transcendental excellence is worth chanting. (19) Having given up on the nectar of the stories about the Infallible One they find the divine order as also disturbing and [instead] listen to the stories of materialism to which they are just like stool eating hogs.(20) When the sun goes through the south, do they along with their families after their cremation take birth again in the world of their forefathers, performing their fruitive activities to the end [compare B.G. 8: 25]. (21) When they have exhausted the results of their pious deeds, they by divine arrangement return to this planet, o virtuous one, against their expectations helplessly falling so, because of being bewildered by their prosperity [compare B.G. 9: 21].
(22) Therefore you should, with all your love, worship the Supreme One of Refuge, of whose feet the devotional service is connected with the good qualities. (23) The discharge of devotional service unto Vâsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, will very soon result in the detachment and spiritual knowledge of self-realization. (24) When the mind for material outcome of the devotee is of sameness to the activities of the senses, is thus finally no difference experienced with the likes and dislikes. (25) He then for sure, of the detachment of his soul equipoised in his vision, is free from aversions or preferences and sees himself elevated to the transcendental position. (26) To the different perceptions of the Spiritual Absolute, the Supersoul and the Person of Control in philosophical research and other processes of understanding, is the Supreme Lord the only measure for transcendental knowledge. (27) By the exact of that measure is with all the kinds of yoga in this world the desired purpose of the yogi achieved, which is indeed the complete of detachment. (28) To the one who by the knowledge of the senses is averse to the Supreme of the Absolute beyond the material modes, it mistakenly appears to be of the nature of sounds and such to the forms of the various objects [as something relative]. (29) As the great principle we have the false ego, the three modes, the five elements, the individual consciousness and the eleven senses [the five senses of action and perception, including the mind] as the material body of the living entity that appeared from the egg that is the universe. (30) In truth, with faith, devotion and being ever steadfast in yoga does that one understand whose mind is fixed in the detachment of distancing oneself from material association.
(31) Thus, My respectful mother, I have described this spiritual knowledge that reveals the Absolute Truth by which the reality of the material and the personal is understood. (32) Of both jñâna-yoga [the yoga of spiritual knowledge] as of the freedom from the modes directed towards Me called bhakti, is, rather than by each of them alone, for sure the purpose achieved signified by the word Bhagavân. (33) The way by the senses the one of an object having many qualities is perceived differently, is similarly the Supreme Lord, Bhagavân, one but differently perceived according the different paths described in the scriptures. (34-36) Through material actions, sacrifices, charity, austerities, study of the scriptures, philosophical research, subduing the mind and senses, as also through the renounced order and fruitive action, does one, practicing the different types of yoga - of performing devotional service and for sure indeed doing one's duties known as pravritti- and nivritti-dharma - by understanding the science of selfrealization and strong detachment, perceive the Supreme Lord in His true nature in as well the material world as in transcendence. (37) I explained to you the four divisions [with the modes and the transcendence above it *] of identity [svarûpa] in devotional service as also the imperceptible of the movement of time [the conditioning] that drives the living entities. (38) For the living entity there are many courses of material action in ignorance, resulting from working for a material outcome [karma] My dear mother, of which the soul entering that existence does not understand his own ways.
(39) This is not meant for instructing the wicked, the ones of bad conduct, or should ever be told to the obstinate or the ones in offense and certainly also not to those who only in name do their duty. (40) One should not instruct the destructive ones too eager nor the ones overly attached to their family life, nor the non-devoted nor as well ever the ones envious of Me and My devotees. (41) It is meant for the faithful, the devotees, the respectful, those not spiteful towards anyone, the friendly eager to render their services conscientiously. (42) Let this instruction be there for those with a peaceful mind who developed detachment for what lays outside of it, who are non-envious and clean and for whom I am the dearest of the dear. (43) O mother, that person who once with faith may hear of this or repeats his mind being fixed on Me [does japa], will for certain attain to My abode.
Second Edition, loaded August 19, 2006.
Source texts:
Entanglement in Fruitive Activities
Kapila said: 'The person now, factually living at home doing the duties of a householder, enjoys again and again the advantage of sense gratification, economic benefits and religious performances.The Personality of Godhead said: The person who lives in the center of household life derives material benefits by performing religious rituals, and thereby he fulfills his desire for economic development and sense gratification. Again and again he acts the same way. (Vedabase)
Moreover, he, infatuated by lust, has turned away from devotional service to the Supreme Lord [called nivritti-dharma] in his faithfully worshiping the gods and the forefathers with ceremonies of sacrifice [called pravritti-dharma].
Such persons are ever bereft of devotional service due to being too attached to sense gratification, and therefore, although they perform various kinds of sacrifices and take great vows to satisfy the demigods and forefathers, they are not interested in Krishna consciousness, devotional service. (Vedabase)
Overcome by a mind of belief vowed to those forefathers and demigods, will the person thus being gone again return back to the world of the lunar order by drinking the soma [beverage drunk by the brahmin of sacrifice].
Such materialistic persons, attracted by sense gratification and devoted to the forefathers and demigods, can be elevated to the moon, where they drink an extract of the soma plant. They again return to this planet. (Vedabase)
When Lord Hari lies Himself down on the snakebed of Ananta S'esha, do those very worlds of the ones attached to their household find their dissolution.
All the planets of the materialistic persons, including all the heavenly planets, such as the moon, are vanquished when the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, goes to His bed of serpents, which is known as Ananta S'esha. (Vedabase)
Those intelligent who to their own duties did not take advantage for the sake of sense-gratification and material benefits and who, free from material attachment, gave up on their fruitive activities, will of a purified consciousness find satisfaction.
Those who are intelligent and are of purified consciousness are completely satisfied in Krishna consciousness. Freed from the modes of material nature, they do not act for sense gratification; rather, since they are situated in their own occupational duties, they act as one is expected to act. (Vedabase)
In the constant engagement in the [nivritti-dharma] religious acts for detachment in giving up claims of property and egoism is one by the goodness and consciousness of acting according one's own duty completely purified.
By executing one's occupational duties, acting with detachment and without a sense of proprietorship or false egoism, one is posted in one's constitutional position by dint of complete purification of consciousness, and by thus executing so-called material duties he can easily enter into the kingdom of God. (Vedabase)
Following the path of enlightenment they approach the Original Personality of God reflected in the faces of all, who rules over the spirit as well as the matter and is the cause of the manifestation and dissolution of the world.
Through the path of illumination, such liberated persons approach the complete Personality of Godhead, who is the proprietor of the material and spiritual worlds and is the supreme cause of their manifestation and dissolution. (Vedabase)
To the end of two parârdhas, which is the end of Brahmâ himself [see 3-11], they indeed dwell for such a long time on the planet of the Supreme, immersed in thoughts of the beyond.
Worshipers of the Hiranyagarbha expansion of the Personality of Godhead remain within this material world until the end of two parârdhas, when Lord Brahmâ also dies. (Vedabase)
At that time he, the chief, Lord Brahmâ, desiring to dissolve the covering of earth, water, fire, ether, mind, senses, objects, ego and so on, enters the changeless spiritual sky after having experienced the time consisting of the three modes.
After experiencing the inhabitable time of the three modes of material nature, known as two parârdhas, Lord Brahmâ closes the material universe, which is covered by layers of earth, water, air, fire, ether, mind, ego, etc., and goes back to Godhead. (Vedabase)
Thus covering such a long period of time of Lord Brahmâ, do those yogis, who did not give up the responsibility for their bodies in controlling the breath and the mind in detachment with him, indeed together enter the Original Person, the embodiment of bliss, the oldest of the primary reality of the spirit.
The yogis who become detached from the material world by practice of breathing exercises and control of the mind reach the planet of Brahmâ, which is far, far away. After giving up their bodies, they enter into the body of Lord Brahmâ, and therefore when Brahmâ is liberated and goes to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the Supreme Brahman, such yogis can also enter into the kingdom of God. (Vedabase)
Therefore, My dear mother, take by devotional service to the shelter of Him you now heard about, who resides in the lotus hearts of all.
Therefore, My dear mother, by devotional service take direct shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is seated in everyone's heart. (Vedabase)
The creator of the living and the lifeless, who is the repository of the Vedas, along with the sages and masters of yoga, the Kumâras and the other perfected ones and fountainheads of yoga, were despite of having other ideas in their independence as a doer, not after material results in their actions and had the qualities of the Original Person of Brahman, the first incarnation. He at the time who has attained again by time the position of Mastery, is born as previously when the interaction to the modes reappears. Having enjoyed again [the true nectar of reunion after dissolution] do the sages by their pious activities, as also the royal opulence produced thereof, all together return, when that interaction to the modes takes place.
My dear mother, someone may worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead with a special self-interest, but even demigods such as Lord Brahmâ, great sages such as Sanat-kumâra and great munis such as Marîci have to come back to the material world again at the time of creation. When the interaction of the three modes of material nature begins, Brahmâ, who is the creator of this cosmic manifestation and who is full of Vedic knowledge, and the great sages, who are the authors of the spiritual path and the yoga system, come back under the influence of the time factor. They are liberated by their nonfruitive activities and they attain the first incarnation of the purusha, but at the time of creation they come back in exactly the same forms and positions as they had previously. (Vedabase)
Those who in their thinking in this world are a slave of fruitive action, for sure perform with faith their prescribed duties in attachment to the result and do so time and again.
Persons who are too addicted to this material world execute their prescribed duties very nicely and with great faith. They daily perform all such prescribed duties with attachment to the fruitive result. (Vedabase)
Driven by passion, are their minds, aspiring for gratification, full of anxieties, are their senses out of control and do they daily at home engage themselves in the worship of their forefathers.
Such persons, impelled by the mode of passion, are full of anxieties and always aspire for sense gratification due to uncontrolled senses. They worship the forefathers and are busy day and night improving the economic condition of their family, social or national life. (Vedabase)
Those [trai-vargika] persons who are after the tree benefits [of economy, sense gratification and religious service] are not interested in the pastimes of Lord Hari, the killer of the demon Mâdhu, whose transcendental excellence is worth chanting.
Such persons are called trai-vargika because they are interested in the three elevating processes. They are averse to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who can give relief to the conditioned soul. They are not interested in the Supreme Personality's pastimes, which are worth hearing because of His transcendental prowess. (Vedabase)
Having given up on the nectar of the stories about the Infallible One they find the divine order as also disturbing and [instead] listen to the stories of materialism to which they are just like stool eating hogs.
Such persons are condemned by the supreme order of the Lord. Because they are averse to the nectar of the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are compared to stool-eating hogs. They give up hearing the transcendental activities of the Lord and indulge in hearing of the abominable activities of materialistic persons. (Vedabase)
When the sun goes through the south, do they along with their families after their cremation take birth again in the world of their forefathers, performing their fruitive activities to the end [compare B.G. 8: 25].
Such materialistic persons are allowed to go to the planet called Pitriloka by the southern course of the sun, but they again come back to this planet and take birth in their own families, beginning again the same fruitive activities from birth to the end of life. (Vedabase)
When they have exhausted the results of their pious deeds, they by divine arrangement return to this planet, o virtuous one, against their expectations helplessly falling so, because of being bewildered by their prosperity [compare B.G. 9: 21 ].
When the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they fall down by higher arrangement and again come back to this planet, just as any person raised to a high position sometimes all of a sudden falls. (Vedabase)
Therefore you should, with all your love, worship the Supreme One of Refuge, of whose feet the devotional service is connected with the good qualities.
My dear mother, I therefore advise that you take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for His lotus feet are worth worshiping. Accept this with all devotion and love, for thus you can be situated in transcendental devotional service. (Vedabase)
The discharge of devotional service unto Vâsudeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, will very soon result in the detachment and spiritual knowledge of self-realization.
Engagement in Krishna consciousness and application of devotional service unto Krishna make it possible to advance in knowledge and detachment, as well as in self-realization. (Vedabase)
When the mind for material outcome of the devotee is of sameness to the activities of the senses, is thus finally no difference experienced with the likes and dislikes.
The exalted devotee's mind becomes equipoised in sensory activities, and he is transcendental to that which is agreeable and not agreeable. (Vedabase)
He then for sure, of the detachment of his soul equipoised in his vision, is free from aversions or preferences and sees himself elevated to the transcendental position.
Because of his transcendental intelligence, the pure devotee is equipoised in his vision and sees himself to be uncontaminated by matter. He does not see anything as superior or inferior, and he feels himself elevated to the transcendental platform of being equal in qualities with the Supreme Person. (Vedabase)
To the different perceptions of the Spiritual Absolute, the Supersoul and the Person of Control in philosophical research and other processes of understanding, is the Supreme Lord the only measure for transcendental knowledge.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead alone is complete transcendental knowledge, but according to the different processes of understanding He appears differently, either as impersonal Brahman, as Paramâtmâ, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or as the purusha-avatâra. (Vedabase)
By the exact of that measure is with all the kinds of yoga in this world the desired purpose of the yogi achieved, which is indeed the complete of detachment.
The greatest common understanding for all yogis is complete detachment from matter, which can be achieved by different kinds of yoga. (Vedabase)
To the one who by the knowledge of the senses is averse to the Supreme of the Absolute beyond the material modes, it mistakenly appears to be of the nature of sounds and such to the forms of the various objects [as something relative].
Those who are averse to the Transcendence realize the Supreme Absolute Truth differently through speculative sense perception, and therefore, because of mistaken speculation, everything appears to them to be relative. (Vedabase)
As the great principle we have the false ego, the three modes, the five elements, the individual consciousness and the eleven senses [the five senses of action and perception, including the mind] as the material body of the living entity that appeared from the egg that is the universe.
From the total energy, the mahat-tattva, I have manifested the false ego, the three modes of material nature, the five material elements, the individual consciousness, the eleven senses and the material body. Similarly, the entire universe has come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Vedabase)
In truth, with faith, devotion and being ever steadfast in yoga does that one understand whose mind is fixed in the detachment of distancing oneself from material association.
This perfect knowledge can be achieved by a person who is already engaged in devotional service with faith, steadiness and full detachment, and who is always absorbed in thought of the Supreme. He is aloof from material association. (Vedabase)
Thus, My respectful mother, I have described this spiritual knowledge that reveals the Absolute Truth by which the reality of the material and the personal is understood.
My dear respectful mother, I have already described the path of understanding the Absolute Truth, by which one can come to understand the real truth of matter and spirit and their relationship. (Vedabase)
Of both jñâna-yoga [the yoga of spiritual knowledge] as of the freedom from the modes directed towards Me called bhakti, is, rather than by each of them alone, for sure the purpose achieved signified by the word Bhagavân.
Philosophical research culminates in understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After achieving this understanding, when one becomes free from the material modes of nature, he attains the stage of devotional service. Either by devotional service directly or by philosophical research, one has to find the same destination, which is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (Vedabase)
The way by the senses the one of an object having many qualities is perceived differently, is similarly the Supreme Lord, Bhagavân, one but differently perceived according the different paths described in the scriptures.
A single object is appreciated differently by different senses due to its having different qualities. Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is one, but according to different scriptural injunctions He appears to be different. (Vedabase)
Through material actions, sacrifices, charity, austerities, study of the scriptures, philosophical research, subduing the mind and senses, as also through the renounced order and fruitive action, does one, practicing the different types of yoga - of performing devotional service and for sure indeed doing one's duties known as pravritti- and nivritti-dharma - by understanding the science of selfrealization and strong detachment, perceive the Supreme Lord in His true nature in as well the material world as in transcendence.
By performing fruitive activities and sacrifices, by distributing charity, by performing austerities, by studying various literatures, by conducting philosophical research, by controlling the mind, by subduing the senses, by accepting the renounced order of life and by performing the prescribed duties of one's social order; by performing the different divisions of yoga practice, by performing devotional service and by exhibiting the process of devotional service containing the symptoms of both attachment and detachment; by understanding the science of self-realization and by developing a strong sense of detachment, one who is expert in understanding the different processes of self-realization realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is represented in the material world as well as in transcendence. (Vedabase)
I explained to you the four divisions [with the modes and the transcendence above it *] of identity [svarûpa] in devotional service as also the imperceptible of the movement of time [the conditioning] that drives the living entities.
My dear mother, I have explained to you the process of devotional service and its identity in four different social divisions. I have explained to you as well how eternal time is chasing the living entities, although it is imperceptible to them. (Vedabase)
For the living entity there are many courses of material action in ignorance, resulting from working for a material outcome [karma] My dear mother, of which the soul entering that existence does not understand his own ways.
There are varieties of material existence for the living entity according to the work he performs in ignorance or forgetfulness of his real identity. My dear mother, if anyone enters into that forgetfulness, he is unable to understand where his movements will end. (Vedabase)
This is not meant for instructing the wicked, the ones of bad conduct, or should ever be told to the obstinate or the ones in offense and certainly also not to those who only in name do their duty.
Lord Kapila continued: This instruction is not meant for the envious, for the agnostics or for persons who are unclean in their behavior. Nor is it for hypocrites or for persons who are proud of material possessions. (Vedabase)
One should not instruct the destructive ones too eager nor the ones overly attached to their family life, nor the non-devoted nor as well ever the ones envious of Me and My devotees.
It is not to be instructed to persons who are too greedy and too attached to family life, nor to persons who are nondevotees and who are envious of the devotees and of the Personality of Godhead. (Vedabase)
It is meant for the faithful, the devotees, the respectful, those not spiteful towards anyone, the friendly eager to render their services conscientiously.
Instruction should be given to the faithful devotee who is respectful to the spiritual master, nonenvious, friendly to all kinds of living entities and eager to render service with faith and sincerity. (Vedabase)
Let this instruction be there for those with a peaceful mind who developed detachment for what lays outside of it, who are non-envious and clean and for whom I am the dearest of the dear.
This instruction should be imparted by the spiritual master to persons who have taken the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be more dear than anything, who are not envious of anyone, who are perfectly cleansed and who have developed detachment for that which is outside the purview of Krishna consciousness. (Vedabase)
O mother, that person who once with faith may hear of this or repeats his mind being fixed on Me [does japa], will for certain attain to My abode.
Anyone who once meditates upon Me with faith and affection, who hears and chants about Me, surely goes back home, back to Godhead. (Vedabase)
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