BHAGAWATHAM SKANDHAM 3 CHAPTER 32 the entanglement in Fruitive Activities.

 Chapter 32: The Entanglement in Fruitive Activities

(1) Kapila said: 'Well then, the person living at home doing the duties of a householder, enjoys again and again [the benefit] of sense gratification, economic gain and religious activities.

 (2) Moreover, he, in his faithful worship of the gods and the forefathers with sacrificial ceremonies [called pravritti-dharma], infatuated by lust has turned his face away from emancipating in devotional service to the Supreme Lord [for the sake of what one calls nivritti-dharma].

 (3) Overcome by a mind of belief being vowed to those forefathers and demigods, the person, who by drinking soma [a beverage drunk by the sacrificing brahmins] thus was of respect for the lunar order [of his sacrifices], will turn back [to this world] after having deceased [see also B.G. 8: 25].

 (4) When Lord Hari lies Himself down on the snake bed of Ananta S'esha, these worlds of the attached householders find their dissolution. 

(5) Those intelligent souls [though] who, in the performance of their personal duties, did not take advantage for the sake of sense gratification and material benefits, but rather free from material attachment gave up their fruitive activities, will find the perfection of peace because their consciousness was purified. 

(6) When they all the time [in nivritti-dharma] righteously are engaged for the sake of the detachment of forsaking egoism and claims of property, they, with the performance of their personal duties, are completely purified by the goodness of such a mentality.

 (7) By following the path of enlightenment they approach the Original Person, the cause of the manifestation and dissolution of the world, who is reflected in each his face as the Controller of the spiritual and material worlds. 

(8) Until the end of a period as long as two parârdhas, in which the life of Brahmâ himself finds its conclusion [see 3.11], they dwell in the transcendental world immersed in thoughts about the Supreme One. 

(9) After having experienced for the time of two parârdhas the natural self [of creation] consisting of the three modes, the Lord of the Beyond [Brahmâ], desiring to dissolve the material covering composed of earth, water, fire, ether, mind, senses, objects, ego and so on, enters the unmanifested primal state.

 (10) Those yogis who went all the way to become detached by controlling their breath and mind and thus entered Lord Brahmâ who cannot be attained with false self conceptions, next together with him go to the Original Person, the embodiment of bliss who is the oldest, primary reality of the spirit.

 (11) Dear mother, therefore by means of devotional service take to the shelter of Him, the Lord you now heard about, who resides in the lotus heart of each.

 (12-15) [But remember that] even Brahmâ, the Creator of the mobile and immobile manifestations who is the source of Vedic wisdom, as also the sages and the masters of yoga, the Kumâras and the other perfected souls and original thinkers of yoga who attained the original Person of the Absolute Truth, the first among all the souls, by dint of their detached, egoless actions, despite their independent vision and all their spiritual qualities, again take birth to assume their positions when this manifestation of the Lord is recreated through the operation of time and the three modes. And that is also true for all others who enjoyed the divine opulence that resulted from their pious deeds, they also return when the interaction of the modes again takes place.

(16) They whose minds in this world are addicted to fruitive activities, engage with conviction in their prescribed duties in attachment to the result of their labor and do that time and again.

 (17) Fully engaged in their households they worship their forefathers while they, being driven by passion, have minds that - aspiring for gratification - are full of anxieties with their senses out of control.

 (18) [Trai-vargika] persons dedicated to the three civil virtues [of economy, sense gratification and religious service] are not interested in the pastimes of Lord Hari, the killer of the demon Madhu, whose exceptional prowess is so worthy of being described. 

(19) Having given up on the nectar of the stories about the Infallible One, they, struck by fate, rather listen to materialistic stories, and in that respect they are just like stool eating hogs.

(20) When the sun goes through the south, they, after their cremation, go to their forefathers, to again take birth in their families for the performance of fruitive activities to the [bitter] end [compare B.G. 8: 25]. 

(21) By divine arrangement they directly fall down from their elevated position to return to this planet, when they have exhausted the merit of their pious deeds, oh virtuous one [compare B.G. 9: 21].

(22) Worship therefore with all your heart the Supreme Lord, your refuge, by the worshipable feet of whom your devotional service is associated with the good qualities. 

(23) Engaging in devotional service unto Vâsudeva the Supreme Personality of Godhead, will very soon result in the detachment and spiritual knowledge that lead to self-realization. 

(24) When the mind of the devotee in every circumstance is equipoised relative to the activity of the senses, he makes no distinction between like and dislike as a consequence. 

(25) He is then, because of the detached mindfulness of his soul, in freedom from sympathy and antipathy, of an equal vision and sees himself elevated to the transcendental position. 

(26) Even though the Supreme Personality constitutes the unique completeness of transcendental knowledge, He in philosophical research and other processes of understanding is differently perceived as the Spirit of the Absolute [Brahman], the Supersoul [Paramâtmâ] and the Lord personally present [Bhagavân, see also S.B. 1.2: 11]. 

(27) The only purpose for a yogi to realize in this world is to achieve, by the practice of yoga, complete detachment from everything.

 (28) For someone averse to the knowledge of spirituality, the pure spirit of the absolute, Brahman, that is free from the [interacting] modes, appears as a relativity of forms that can be perceived through the senses and is misconceived as being endowed with sounds and so on. 

(29) [But] just as from the mahat-tattva with the three modes and the five elements, the material body of the living entity was formed with its individual consciousness, eleven senses [the five senses of action and perception, including the mind] and false ego, also the universe was formed out of the cosmic egg of all universes [and may thus be concluded that no essential difference exists between the local covering of the individual soul and the gigantic universal covering of the Supersoul; or briefly stated, that the universe must be seen as a person].

 (30) With faith and devotion ever being steadfast in yoga, he understands this whose mind is fixed in the detachment of disassociating oneself from material involvement.

(31) Thus, My respectful mother, I have described this spiritual knowledge that reveals the perspective of the Pure Spirit by which both the material and personal reality [prakriti and purusha] is understood. 

(32) Rather than by each of them alone, by means of both jñâna-yoga [the yoga of spiritual knowledge] and the freedom from the modes of being directed towards Me that is called bhakti, the purpose is achieved that is denoted by the word Bhagavân. 

(33) One and the same object having many qualities is differently perceived by the senses, similarly the one and only Lord of All Fortune is seen differently depending the different paths described in the scriptures.

 (34-36) By material actions, sacrificial ceremonies, charity, austerities, study of the scriptures, philosophical research, subduing the mind and senses, as also by renunciation and forsaking profit-minded labor, practicing the different types of yoga, performing devotional service and fulfilling one's individual duties - in case of both an active life and a contemplative life [pravritti and nivritti dharma] -, one will, with consequent detachment and knowledge of the science of self-realization, perceive the Supreme Lord in His true nature: as being present in both the material world and in transcendence [saguna and nirguna].

 (37) I explained to you the four divisions of identity [svarûpa] in devotional service [three according to the modes and one for their transcendence*], as also the imperceptible action of time [the conditioning] that drives the living entities. 

(38) For the living entity, My dear mother, there are many ways of engaging materially in ignorance [about one's original identity]. They are all the result of working for a material outcome [karma], and he who gets entangled in it has therefore lost his way.

(39) This what I said is not meant for instructing the evil-minded and the ones of bad conduct, nor to be told to obstinate and offensive people or to anyone who only in name does his duty. 

(40) One must not tell this to greedy persons and neither to someone attached to hearth and home, nor to those who are not devoted to Me or detest My devotees.

 (41) It is meant for the faithful souls, for devotees, respectful people, for those not spiteful towards anyone, those who are friendly and eager to render their services conscientiously. 

(42) Tell this to those who with a peaceful mind developed detachment for what is outside of them, to those who are not envious, who are clean and to whom I am the dearest of the dear. 

(43) Oh mother, he who but once with faith heard about this or repeats this for himself in being fixed on Me [doing japa], will certainly attain My heaven.'