SRI BRAHMA-SAMHITA

Verse 61

dharman anyan parityajya mam ekam bhaja visvasan
yadrsi yadrsi sraddha siddhir bhavati tadrsi
kurvan nirantaram karma loko ’yam anuvarttate
tenaiva karmana dhyayan mam param bhaktim ichchhati [61]

Translation: Abandon all other types of religion and serve Me with resolve. One will attain perfection according to the nature of his faith. Perpetually pursuing worldly occupations or karma, the people of the world remain in the world. Meditate upon Me through the execution of your particular work, and you will attain to loving devotion, the supreme transcendental devotion.

Purport: The dharma—‘religion,’ ‘nature’ or ‘function’ of the character of pure devotion, suddha-bhakti—is the actual jaiva-dharma, or eternal nature and original function of the soul. As many other ‘religions’ may be found in the world, every one of them is superficial in comparison to the original function. The superficial dharmas are numerous, including the cultivation of jnana, or knowledge of Brahman, aiming at nirvana (cessation of embodied existence); the eightfold and allied forms of yoga aiming at ‘becoming one’ with the Supersoul; pious worldly works by the way of karma-kanda aiming at mundane pleasures; jnana-yoga as a relative combination of karma and jnana; and barren renunciation.

The Lord is saying, “Give up all these attempts and embrace the religion of bhakti—devotion—which has its roots in sraddha—faith—and serve and adore Me. Exclusive faith in Me is ‘resolve’ (visvasa); that resolute faith gradually becomes more and more lucid, and from that develops nistha, ruchi, asakti and bhava—firmness, taste, depth in taste, and heartfelt sentiment of divine love. Perfection is attained in proportion to the purity of one’s faith.”

If the question is raised, “If in this way one is to be constantly engaged in pursuing perfection in devotion, how will he maintain his body, and how will the world go on? And when society and one’s body cease to function, how will a man pursue perfection in devotion when he’s dead?”—then in order to slash such a doubt, the Lord is saying, “Execute karma, or work that the people of this plane sustain the world by, as meditation; destroy the karmik, or exploitative, nature of those actions; and establish their devotional quality.”

Man passes his life by engaging in three types of actions: bodily, mental and social. The manifold bodily activities include eating, sitting, walking, reclining, sleeping, evacuating, dressing, etc.; the mental activities include thought, remembrance, concentration, realization, feeling happiness and unhappiness, etc.; and the social activities include marriage, the relationship of ruler and subject, brotherhood, assemblies for performing sacrifice, public welfare works, family maintenance, receiving guests, customary formalities, offering due respect to others, etc.

When these actions are performed for the sake of one’s own enjoyment, they are known as karma-kanda; when they are performed for an opportunity of attaining enlightenment, they are known as karma-yoga or jnana-yoga; and when they are executed as functions conducive to the practising life of devotion, they are known as gauna-bhakti-yoga, or the indirect application of devotion. But only action that is symptomized by pure worship is known as direct devotion.

Thus the Lord is saying, “Your every act will be meditation upon Me when you give due time to practising direct devotion whilst otherwise rendering indirect devotion in accordance with the formalities demanded by the world.” In this respect, despite acting in the world—‘performing karma’—the jiva does not become averse to the service of the Lord by turning outward to mundane trappings.

This way of activity is the practice of turning inward; as it is stated in the Isopanisad: isavasyam idam sarvam yat kin cha jagatyam jagat, tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma grdhah kasyachid dhanam. Our revered commentator has stated, tena isa-tyaktena visrstena. The purport is that whatever one accepts, when everything is accepted as one’s fortune of receiving the prasada, or grace of the Lord, then actions lose their quality of karma and take on the quality of bhakti. Therefore, the Isopanisad states, kurvan eveha karmani jijivisech chhatam samah, evam tvayi nanyatheto ’sti na karma lipyate nare: if one acts in this way, even if he lives for hundreds of years he cannot be daubed by karma.

The liberationist or jnana-oriented interpretation of these two mantras is ‘renunciation of the fruits of work’; but from the standpoint of bhakti, the purport is to gain the grace, or prasada, of the Lord by offering everything to Him. So worldly occupations are to be executed along with the meditation of remembering the worship of the Supreme Lord in archana-marga, or the path of due reverence for the Deity.

Now, Brahma has a desire in his heart for creation. If that desire is fulfilled along with the meditation of following the order of the Lord, by virtue of that action possessing the symptom of surrender to the Lord, it will be an indirect religious function favourable to the nourishment of and within the purview of devotion. This is the reasonable way of the Lord’s instruction to Brahma.

The jiva who has attained to bhava, or internal, heartfelt devotion is naturally indifferent to all but Krishna, and so such an instruction does not apply in his case.

• For Reader's Appreciation
• Feelings of Appreciation
• Prologue
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