 | 1 Now we will discuss karma (action). Some actions have piety as their goal. Other actions have material pleasures as their goal. Some actions bring reactions that are dormant like seeds. In other actions the reaction have already begun to sprout. In Vedanta-sutra it is said:
|
| na karmāvibhāgād it cen na anāditvāt
|
| “If someone says: before the material world was created there were no activities”, then I reply: ‘No. That is not true. Activities are eternal. They never had a beginning.”
|
| Activities are of two kinds: auspicious and inauspicious. Inauspicious
activities are activities forbidden in the Vedas. Those activities bring unwanted results. They lead the performed to hell. Auspicious activities are activities encouraged by the Vedas. These activities bring the fulfilment of specific desires. For example, if one desires to reside in Svargaloka one should perform a Jyotistome-yajna. Chanting the gayatri-mantra and performing agni-hotras are examples of auspicious activities that to be performed regularly. Performing a specific yajna to obtain a son is an example of an auspicious activity meant for a specific occasion. Performing a candrayana fast is an example of an auspicious activity meant as a penance to atone for a sin. In this way there are many kinds of auspicious activities. A person who desire to attain liberation should avoid the forbidden activities, for they will become stumbling blocks on the path to liberation. Auspicious activities should always be performed, for they purify the heart and mind.
|
| 2 Transcendental knowledge destroys the reactions of all auspicious and inauspicious deeds. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad it is said:
|
| tataḥ paraṁ kriyamāṇaṁ
na tena vidvān vilipyate
tad yatheṣi-tūlam agnau
protaṁ pradūyetaivaṁ
hāsya-sarva-pāpmānaḥ pradūyante
|
| “Therefore a person situated in transcendental knowledge is never touched by karmic reactions. As a ball of cotton burns in a fire, so all his sins are burned to ashes.”
|
| yathā pusūkara-palāśa
āpo na śliṣyata evam
evātma-vidi pāpaṁ
karmaṇaḥ ślīṣyate
|
| “As a lotus leaf us always untouched by water, so a person situated in transcendental knowledge is always untouched by sinful reactions.”
|
| In this way both sinful and pious karmic reactions are destroyed. In Bṛhad-āranyaka Upaniṣad it is said:
|
| ubhe uhaiveṣa ete taraty amṛtāḥ sādhv-asādhunī
|
| “Crossing beyond both pious and sinful karmic reactions, one attains liberation.”
|
| In this way a person situated in transcendental knowledge crosses beyond
both pious and sinful karmic reactions. This means that all his karmic reactions
are destroyed. He is freed of all past karmic reactions.
|
| 3 When by transcendental knowledge one becomes free of past karmic reactions, one attains the lotus feet of Lord Krsna. Enjoying eternal happiness, one eternally stays with Him in the spiritual world. One never returns to the material world. In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
|
| brahma-vid āpnoti param
|
| “A person who knows the Supreme attains the spiritual world.”
|
| In the Sruti-sastra (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.8) it is said:
|
| tam eva viditvāti mṛtyum eti
nānya-panthā vidyate ‘yanāya
|
| “I know that Supreme Personality of Godhead who is transcendental to all
material conceptions of darkness. Only he who knows Him can transcend the bonds of birth and death. There is no way for liberation other than this knowledge of that Supreme Person.”
|
| In the Sruti-sastra it is said:
|
| so ‘śnute sarvān kāmān na sa punar āvartate
|
| “One who goes to the spiritual world enjoys all spiritual pleasures there. He never returns to this material world.”
|
| 4 Knowledge is of two kinds: knowledge of the visible world and knowledge beyond the visible world. These two kinds of knowledge are called paroksa and aparoksa respectively. Aparoksa knowledge is full of transcendental bliss. That knowledge is the same as devotional service. In Gopala-tapani Upanisad it is said:
|
| vijñāna-ghanānanda-
ghana-sac-cid-ānandaika-
rase bhakti-yoge sa tiṣṭhati
|
| “The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is eternal and full of
transcendental knowledge and bliss, is attained by devotional service.”
|
| Many devotees have directly attained the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Associating with great devotees and performing the pure devotional activities that begin with hearing and chanting the Lord’s glories, they became purified at heart and attained shelter at Lord Krsna’s feet.
|
| In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.2.37) it is said:
|
| pibanti ye bhagavata ātmanaḥ satāṁ
kathāmṛtam śravaṇa-puṭeṣu sambhṛtam
punanti te viṣaya-vidūṣitāśayaṁ
vrajanti tac-caraṇa-saroruhāntikam
|
| “Those who drink through aural reception, fully filled with the nectarean message of Lord Krsna, the beloved of the devotees, purify the polluted aim of life know as material enjoyment and thus go back to Godhead, to the lotus feet of Him (the Personality of Godhead).”
|
| 5 These five truths are described in the words of Śrī Viṣṇu Purāṇa:
|
| viṣṇoḥ svarūpāt parato hi te ‘nye
rūpe pradhānaṁ puruṣaś ca vipra
tasyaiva te ‘nye na dhṛte viyukte
rūpeṇa yat tad dvija kāla-saṁjñaḥ
janaiś ca karma-stimitātma-niścayaiḥ...
tad evam etat pañcaka-vivekī
varṇita-sādhana-sampattimān
viśuddhaḥ śrī-hari-padam
upalabhya tatraiva sarvadā divyati
|
| “O brahmana, the material nature and the individual spirit souls are both different from the transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.The material world is created and destroyed by time. The living entities attain the results of their own actions. A person who knows these five truths, who is rich in the devotional activities described in the scriptures, and who is pure at heart attains Lord Krsna’s feet. At Lord Krsna’s feet he is eternally glorious and happy.”
|
English
Español
Pусский
Português