BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:51

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:51

 

karma-jam buddhi-yukta hi

phalam tyaktva manisinah

janma-bandha-vinirmuktah

padam gacchanty anamayam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

karma-jam--due to fruitive activities; buddhi-yuktah--being engaged in

devotional service; hi--certainly; phalam--results; tyaktva--giving

up; manisinah--great sages or devotees; janma-bandha--from the bondage

of birth and death; vinirmuktah--liberated; padam--position;

gacchanti--they reach; anamayam--without miseries.

 

TRANSLATION

 

By thus engaging in devotional service to the Lord, great sages or

devotees free themselves from the results of work in the material

world. In this way they become free from the cycle of birth and death

and attain the state beyond all miseries [by going back to Godhead].

 

PURPORT

 

The liberated living entities belong to that place where there are no

material miseries. The Bhagavatam (10.14.58) says:

 

samasrita ye pada-pallava-plavam

mahat-padam punya-yaso murareh

bhavambudhir vatsa-padam param padam

padam padam yad vipadam na tesam

 

"For one who has accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the

shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Mukunda, or the

giver of mukti, the ocean of the material world is like the water

contained in a calf's footprint. param padam, or the place where there

are no material miseries, or Vaikuntha, is his goal, not the place

where there is danger in every step of life."

 

Owing to ignorance, one does not know that this material world is a

miserable place where there are dangers at every step. Out of

ignorance only, less intelligent persons try to adjust to the

situation by fruitive activities, thinking that the resultant actions

will make them happy. They do not know that no kind of material body

anywhere within the universe can give life without miseries. The

miseries of life, namely birth, death, old age and diseases, are

present everywhere within the material world. But one who understands

his real constitutional position as the eternal servitor of the Lord,

and thus knows the position of the Personality of Godhead, engages

himself in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. Consequently

he becomes qualified to enter into the Vaikuntha planets, where there

is neither material, miserable life nor the influence of time and

death. To know one's constitutional position means to know also the

sublime position of the Lord. One who wrongly thinks that the living

entity's position and the Lord's position are on the same level is to

be understood to be in darkness and therefore unable to engage himself

in the devotional service of the Lord. He becomes a lord himself and

thus paves the way for the repetition of birth and death. But one who,

understanding that his position is to serve, transfers himself to the

service of the Lord, at once becomes eligible for Vaikunthaloka.

Service for the cause of the Lord is called karma-yoga or buddhi-yoga,

or in plain words, devotional service to the Lord.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.