BHAGAVAD-GITA 4:14

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 4:14

 

na mam karmani limpanti

na me karma-phale sprha

iti mam yo 'bhijanati

karmabhir na sa badhyate

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

na--never; mam--Me; karmani--all kinds of work; limpanti--do affect;

na--nor; me--My; karma-phale--in fruitive action; sprha--aspiration;

iti--thus; mam--Me; yah--one who; abhijanati--does know; karmabhih--by

the reaction of such work; na--never; sah--he; badhyate--becomes

entangled.

 

TRANSLATION

 

There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of

action. One who understands this truth about Me also does not become

entangled in the fruitive reactions of work.

 

PURPORT

 

As there are constitutional laws in the material world stating that

the king can do no wrong, or that the king is not subject to the state

laws, similarly the Lord, although He is the creator of this material

world, is not affected by the activities of the material world. He

creates and remains aloof from the creation, whereas the living

entities are entangled in the fruitive results of material activities

because of their propensity for lording it over material resources.

The proprietor of an establishment is not responsible for the right

and wrong activities of the workers, but the workers are themselves

responsible. The living entities are engaged in their respective

activities of sense gratification, and these activities are not

ordained by the Lord. For advancement of sense gratification, the

living entities are engaged in the work of this world, and they aspire

to heavenly happiness after death. The Lord, being full in Himself,

has no attraction for so-called heavenly happiness. The heavenly

demigods are only His engaged servants. The proprietor never desires

the low-grade happiness such as the workers may desire. He is aloof

from the material actions and reactions. For example, the rains are

not responsible for different types of vegetation that appear on the

earth, although without such rains there is no possibility of

vegetative growth. Vedic smrti confirms this fact as follows:

 

nimitta-matram evasau

srjyanam sarga-karmani

pradhana-karani-bhuta

yato vai srjya-saktayah

 

"In the material creations, the Lord is only the supreme cause. The

immediate cause is material nature, by which the cosmic manifestation

is made visible." The created beings are of many varieties, such as

the demigods, human beings and lower animals, and all of them are

subject to the reactions of their past good or bad activities. The

Lord only gives them the proper facilities for such activities and the

regulations of the modes of nature, but He is never responsible for

their past and present activities. In the Vedanta-sutra (2.1.34) it is

confirmed, vaisamya-nairghrnye na sapeksatvat: the Lord is never

partial to any living entity. The living entity is responsible for his

own acts. The Lord only gives him facilities, through the agency of

material nature, the external energy. Anyone who is fully conversant

with all the intricacies of this law of karma, or fruitive activities,

does not become affected by the results of his activities. In other

words, the person who understands this transcendental nature of the

Lord is an experienced man in Krsna consciousness, and thus he is

never subjected to the laws of karma. One who does not know the

transcendental nature of the Lord and who thinks that the activities

of the Lord are aimed at fruitive results, as are the activities of

the ordinary living entities, certainly becomes entangled himself in

fruitive reactions. But one who knows the Supreme Truth is a liberated

soul fixed in Krsna consciousness.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.