Scope of Sacrifice

** may not be expected here this week. He said that he would come here this Monday, but due to his present busy engagement over there, I think he will not be able to spare time to come here for the time being. Let us wait and see. 'Akasa phalapatavat (আকাশ ফলপাতবত). Like a fruit falling from the sky.' We shall try to reckon things in that way.

Everything is connected with the infinite. We must learn to depend on the will of Krishna, not so much on the calculation of our human brains, either individually or as a group. We shall chalk it out in a general way according to our understanding of scriptures and the practices of great personages, but as regards the result, we shall always be open that anything may come.

কর্ম্মণ্যেবাধিকারস্তে মা ফলেষু কদাচন ।
মা কর্ম্মফলহেতুর্ভূর্মা তে সঙ্গোঽস্ত্বকর্ম্মণি ॥

karmany evadhikaras te, ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur, ma te sango 'stv akarmani

'Your right is to do your prescribed duty, but you have no right for any result of your work. You must not work hankering after any result, neither must you become attached to not doing your prescribed duty because of that.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 2.47)

'Always engage yourself, but never try to connect yourself with any consequence.' What comes out is the resultant of many things and, above all, the supreme will. This is a fact. So, do not bother uselessly about the result and waste your energy – try to give your full attention to the duty, and not to the after-effect (the result that your duty will acquire). Actually, duty cannot acquire any result, consequence or fruit – whatever comes as the result is graced. It is grace, prasadam. Whatever comes from the infinite wave should be considered as grace.

Whatever we do, we should do it with the spirit of service, not thinking about the result of trade. 'Yas ta asisa asaste na sa bhrtyah sa vai vanik (যস্ত আশিষ আশাস্তে ন স ভৃত্যঃ স বৈ বণিক্). Those who desire some benefit in lieu of serving You are not servitors but traders' (Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.10.4). Anything and everything we do, we should do it with the aim of serving the infinite. We shall go on doing our work with clean hands, uncontaminated by any consequence. Do your service and get corresponding prasad: what comes from the infinite environment is prasad, grace. We have no claim over that. Whatever we do, we will do it without any claim or application, without even any expectation. We shall simply think, 'It has been allotted to me as my duty, so I am doing it.' There is no fixed future; otherwise, it will be maya. We shall try to live under the sky, free, then the heart will find relief.

'Asankalpaj jayet kamam (অসঙ্কল্পাজ্জয়েৎ কামং). Desires can be conquered by giving up fixation with the result' (Srimad Bhagavatam, 7.15.22). 'Sankalpa' (সঙ্কল্প) means 'planning' (parikalpana, পরিকল্পনা), something like a five-year plan (pancha-varsik parikalpana, পঞ্চবার্ষিক পরিকল্পনা; a practice adopted by the government to uplift its economy). We can sometimes make plans, but there is some provision: we must be fully aware that whether we reach the goal depends wholly on the divine will. We may make plans with this mood. Suppose a meeting is to be organised. We shall try our best – we shall circulate notices in the place, informing everybody that there will be a meeting held and some persons will deliver lectures, and so on – but we will do it with an open mind, realising that at any time some hindrance may come and our plan can be stopped. Realising this, we shall go on with our endeavours with a sense of duty, 'It is my duty, so I am doing it. God willing, it will be successful.' God is there, overhead. Try to live in the relativity of eternity (vaikuntha-basa).

Misconception comes from the mayavadis' school, who say, 'When everything depends on Him, then where is our quota? Where is our duty?' According to the Vaishnava school, work is the very nature of service. It is possible. One can work with the fullest energy without any definite result. Even though the future is uncertain, one can still work earnestly; and instead of concentrating on the result, the whole concentration can be on the work, not on the future result.

কর্ম্মণ্যেবাধিকারস্তে মা ফলেষু কদাচন ।
মা কর্ম্মফলহেতুর্ভূর্মা তে সঙ্গোঽস্ত্বকর্ম্মণি ॥

karmany evadhikaras te, ma phalesu kadachana
ma karma-phala-hetur bhur, ma te sango 'stv akarmani

'Your right is to do your prescribed duty, but you have no right for any result of your work. You must not work hankering after any result, neither must you become attached to not doing your prescribed duty because of that.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 2.47)

'Do not be discouraged because you have no demand, no right for the result. Do not be discouraged.' This great warning is necessary; otherwise, everyone will feel discouraged, 'When we have no part to take in the consequence, why should we labour?' That is not a negligible point, so an immediate warning is given – 'you must not become attached to not doing your prescribed duty because of that (na te sango 'stv akarmani)' – so that this misfortune of thinking to stop work may not come down to you. Go on working. Just as in the cooperative system, many labourers are engaged in work: they do their duty (they give to the system in the form of energy), the production goes hither and thither, and then, in due time, when remuneration comes to them, it comes in coin. So, do not be a miser in devoting your energy to the system as you are at present.

'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma phalesu kadachana: the result is under My disposal.' There is some omission here: engagement is described here from the negative side, not the positive side.

অহং হি সর্ব্বযজ্ঞানাং ভোক্তা চ প্রভুরেব চ ।
ন তু মামভিজানন্তি তত্ত্বেনাতশ্চ্যবন্তি তে ॥

aham hi sarva-yajnanam, bhokta cha prabhur eva cha
na tu mam abhijananti, tattvenatas chyavanti te

'Therefore, I am the one who enjoys and awards the result of all sacrifices. But they cannot know this about Me, so they keep taking birth and dying again and again.'

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.24)

'It is Mine! I enjoy this selfless work, it is for My enjoyment. It is distributed proportionally to any and every point, existing separately all over the universe, but it is better for you to think that it is wholly Mine, then, when I distribute the result to you, you will not be able to have any claim or bind yourself with it.' This pure distribution is grace. You must not try to bring any reason or justice in there, but it is so free that you may consider it to be mercy. Do not expect any justice, 'I am giving so much labour, so I must get that. According to the law of justice, it should be ordained to me in this way.' Never. You must give your energy freely, and whatever He gives you in return will be free, not under the consideration of justice. It is all about service and grace, mercy. It is open. Your account must always be clear. There is no mutual demand. Such a transaction is freedom proper. This is the conception of real freedom.

Such selflessness is dynamic, not static like that of mayavadis. According to them, selflessness means a sound sleep or self-effacement. But selflessness does not naturally result in self-effacement – it is of dynamic character. Selflessness means self-giving, self-surrendering. Self-giving towards what? Towards the centre, the Absolute. That sort of selflessness is what is demanded from every atom, from every worker, every labourer. Freedom and the happiness of freedom can exist only there.

When we labour, our energy is utilised in some way by intelligence, and that can produce something. Foolish labour may not flourish, but if we dedicate our labour to the highest intelligence, it will fetch more. So, if we can dedicate ourselves without any miserly habit, we shall get an ample result, something that cannot even be imagined by us.

'Dasa kari vetana more deha prema-dhana (দাস করি বেতন মোরে দেহ প্রেমধন). Please accept me as Your slave and give me love as my salary – allow me to acquire real love for You, for Your own, for everything that belongs to You.' Our aspiration is for love – we want to be able to dedicate ourselves more and more, so we pray, 'Give me love as the salary.' Love means more self-giving spirit, more self-distributing spirit. An intense inspiration of self-distribution – this is what we want to get as our salary. We are not seeking any comfort; we want to be more dynamic, not static – we want our capacity of giving to increase. This is the salary we want to get. Love (prema) means self-giving, a tendency to distribute yourself. Self-distribution comes with self-surrender: it begins on the basis of self-surrender.

We want to get love, prema, but what does love mean? 'Oh, you want something? But what is that something?' If analysed, you can see that this something is more intense inspiration to give. 'Ma phalesu kadachana. You have no right for the result of your work.' That fruit (the result) has been transformed into love, into even more interest to serve. This is not an ordinary fruit. Vaishnavs also want something, but what they want is service and more hankering for service; the salary they want is more worth and more earnestness for service: 'I want that sort of salary!'

This is the universe discovered by Vaishnavs. It has been brought down to the experience of the senses by the Vaishnavs from above, and it is realised through revelation, 'There is a domain of such a conception, and if you like it, you can come by such-and-such way. You are welcome. There is a domain of extreme self-abnegation. This is the country where such persons live – if you would like to be a resident of that land, then come.'

Calculation is situated in a lower portion, in Paravyoma; but if you go beyond calculation and enter into spontaneous service, that is Goloka. It is impossible to calculate how much one can sacrifice.

রাধামুকুন্দপদসম্ভব-ঘর্ম্মবিন্দু-
নির্ম্মঞ্ছনোপকরণীকৃতদেহলক্ষাং ।
উত্তুঙ্গসৌহৃদবিশেষবশাৎ প্রগল্ভাং,
দেবীং গুণৈঃ সুললিতাং ললিতাং নমামি ॥

radha-mukunda-pada-sambhava-gharma-bindu-
nirmanchanopakarani-krta-deha-laksam
uttunga-sauhrda-visesa-vasat pragalbham
devim gunaih su-lalitam lalitam namami

'To remove even a drop of sweat that may appear on the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Mukunda, she wants to take on thousands of bodies. She loses herself in the ecstasy of a very lofty, loving nature and can sometimes behave haughty. I am offering my obeisance to Lalita Devi, who is replete with beautiful qualities.'

(Sri Lalitastakam, 1, by Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu)

A hint of a particular standard has been given here. When Lalita Devi finds a drop of sweat on the feet of Radha-Govinda, she furiously engages herself to remove that sweat. 'How has it come there?! We are circumambulating Them to make sure that not least pain enters this domain to trouble Them, but how without our notice has this sweat come?! We must have slipped up. Sweat! Sweat!!' She furiously chastises herself and wants to take it away at once. She wants to take on a hundred thousand bodies – with this kind of force she comes to remove that drop of sweat from the foot of either of Them. Such eagerness, such self-abuse and earnestness is found in her.

If even the least difficulty is spotted in the service area, they cannot tolerate it in any way – they run with so much earnestness to rectify it. Mahaprabhu also said, 'If it was possible to get Krishna by giving up My body, I could give up millions of bodies! To attain the service of Krishna, I want to die millions of times – I am ready to embrace death at once!' This sort of unit is used there, in that domain. Earnestness, eagerness for service, self-dedication, self-distribution of such a high, noble type. It is inconceivable. So, self-sacrifice only is nothing; it is only a unit, but once the plane is developed, the whole structure can be built there.

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