TEXT 61

dharman anyan parityajya
mam ekam bhaja visvasan
yadrsi yadrsi sraddha
siddhir bhavati tadrsi

kurvan nirantaram karma
loko 'yam anuvartate
tenaiva karmana dhyayan
mam param bhakim icchati

WORD FOR WORD

dharman--meritorious performances; anyan--other; parityajya--abandoning; mam--Me; ekam--alone; bhaja--serve; visvasan--having faith; yadrsi yadrsi--just as; sraddha--faith; siddhih--realization; bhavati--arises; tadrsi-- corresponding; kurvan--performing; nirantaram--ceaselessly; karma--activi- ties; lokah ayam--the people of this world; anuvartate--pursue; tena--by those; eva--indeed; karmana--deeds; dhyayan--meditating; mam--upon Me; param--supreme; bhaktim--devotion; icchati--one obtains.

TRANSLATION

Abandoning all meritorious performances serve Me with faith. The realization will correspond to the nature of one's faith. The people of the world act ceaselessly in pursuance of some ideal. By meditating on Me by means of those deeds one will obtin devotion characterized by love in the shape of the supreme senile.

PURPORT

The function characterized by unalloyed devotion is the real function of all individual souls (jiva). All other varieties of function are activities of the external cases. These exoteric and esoteric dharmas (functions) are manifold, e.g., nondifferential knowledge of the Brahman aiming at extinction of individuality, the astanga-yoga-dharma having as its goal attainment of the state of exclusive existence (kaivalya), atheistical fruitive ritualism aiming at material enjoyment, jnana-yoga-dharma seeking to combine knowledge with fruitive activity and the practice of the function of barren asceticism. Getting rid of all these, serve Me by pure devotion rooted in faith. Exclusive faith in Me is trust. Faith in the form of trust by the process of gradual purification tends to become a constant engagement (nistha), an object of liking (ruci), of attachment (asakti) and a real sentiment (bhava). The more transparent the faith, the greater the degree of realization. If you ask--How will the preservation and conduct of worldly affairs be feasible if one is continuously engaged in the endeavor for the realization at bhakti? What also will be the nature of the endeavor for the realization of bhakti when the body will perish consequent on the cessation of the function of the body and of society?

In order to strike at the root of this misgiving the Supreme Lord says, "This world subsists by the constant performance of certain activities. Fill all these activities with meditation of Me. This will destroy the quality that makes those activities appear as acts done by you. They will then be of the nature of My service (bhakti).

"Mankind live by the threefold activities of body, mind and society. Eating, seating, walking, resting, sleeping, cleansing the body, covering the body etc., are the various bodily activities; thinking, recollecting, retaining an impression, becoming aware of an entity, feeling pleasure and pain, etc., are the mental feats; marrying, practicing reciprocal relationship between the king and subject, practicing brotherhood, attending at sacrificial meetings, offering oblations, digging wells, tanks, etc., for the benefit of the people, maintaining one's relations, practicing hospitality, observing proper civic conduct, showing due respect to others are the various social activities. When these acts are performed for one's selfish enjoyment, they are called karma-kanda; when the desire for attainment of freedom from activity by knowledge underlies these actions, they are termed jnana-yoga or karma-yoga. And when these activities are managed to be performed in this way that is conducive to our endeavor for attainment of bhakti they are called jnana- bhakta-yoga, i.e., the subsidiary devotional practices. But only those activities that are characterized by the principle of pure worship are called bhakti proper. My meditation is practiced in every act when bhakti proper is practiced in due time while performing the subsidiary devotional activities in one's intercourse with the ungodly people of this world. In such position, a jiva does not become apathetic to Godhead even by performing those worldly activities. This constitutes the practice of looking inwards, i.e., turning towards one's real self, vide isopaniad--

isavasyam idam sarvam
yat kincya jagatyam jagat
tena tyaktena bhunjitha
ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam

The commentator says in regards to this, tena isa-tyaktena visrstena. The real significance being that if whatever is accepted be received as favor vouchsafed by the Supreme Lord, the worldly activity will cease to be such and will turn into service of Godhead (bhakti). So lsavasya says kurvann eveha karmani ... karma lipyate nare.

If the worldly acts are performed in the above manner one does not get entangled in karma even in hundreds of years of worldly life. The meaning of these two mantras from the jnana point of view is renouncement of the fruits of one's worldly actions; but from the bhakti point of view they mean the attainment of Krsna's favor (prasadam) by the the transfer to His account. In this method, which is the path of arcana, you should do your duties of the world by the meditation of worshiping Godhead thereby. Brahma cherishes the desire for creation in his heart. If that creative desire is practiced by conjoining the same with the meditation of obeying therein the command of the Supreme Lord, then it will be a subsidiary spiritual function (gauna-dharma) being helpful for the growth of the disposition for the service of the Divinity by reason of its characteristic of seeking the protection of Godhead. It was certainly proper to instruct Brahma in this manner. There is no occasion for such instruction in the case of a jiva in whom the spontaneous aversion for entities other than Krsna manifests itself on his attainment of the substantive entity of spiritual devotion (bhava).