Naiṣkarmya

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ
na śobhate jñānam alaṁ nirañjanam |
kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare
na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.5.12; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.554; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 70, Bhakti Sandarbha: 3, 5, 23, 115, 116, 217; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.19)

“[Śrī Nārada to Śrī Vyāsa:] Even untainting jñāna illuminative of Brahman (naiṣkarmya) [if it is] devoid of bhāva for Acyuta does not shine greatly [i.e., does not lead to direct experience of Brahman], so how much less so does ever-inauspicious karma not offered to Īśvara, even which [i.e., when it] is causeless?’”

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karmārpaṇaṁ dvividham—bhagavat-prīṇana-rūpaṁ

karmārpaṇaṁ dvividham—bhagavat-prīṇana-rūpaṁ, tasmiṁs tat-tyāga-rūpaṁ ceti | … atra nimittāni ca trīṇi—kāmanā, naiṣkarmyaṁ, bhakti-mātraṁ ceti | niṣkāmatvaṁ tu kevalaṁ na sambhavati, yad yad dhi kurute jantus tat tat kāmasya ceṣṭitam ity ukteḥ | atra kāmanā-naiṣkarmyayoḥ prāyaḥ karma-tyāgaḥ | prīṇanaṁ tu tad-ābhāsa eva, svārtha-paratvāt | bhaktau punaḥ prīṇanam eva, bhaktes tu tad-eka-jīvanatvāt | … parama-bhaktās tu bhagavat-paritoṣaṇaṁ prīṇanam eva prārthayante … |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 224)

“Offering karma [to Bhagavān] is of two types: that in the form of pleasing Bhagavān (Bhagavat-prīṇana) [i.e., making an offering of one’s karma to please Bhagavān], and in the form of giving that [i.e., karma] to him [i.e., offering karma to him without any intention to please him]. … There are three causes in this regard [i.e., the desired object of those who offer their karma to Bhagavān is one of three types]: a desire (kāmanā) [i.e., the fulfillment of a particular worldly desire], freedom from karma (naiṣkarmya) [i.e., attaining mukti], and bhakti alone [i.e., attaining bhakti for its own sake]. Pure desirelessness (niṣkāmatva) is not at all possible, as per the statement [in Manu-smṛti 2.4], ‘Indeed anything a person does is an act of desire.’ Herein [i.e., in regard to these three causes], in the case of [the causes of] desire (kāmanā) and naiṣkarmya, for the most part giving up of karma occurs [i.e., these two causes mostly fall into the second of the two aforementioned categories of offering karma to Bhagavān, that is, simply giving over one’s karma to Bhagavān without any specific intent to please him]. Pleasing [Bhagavān] is present only in appearance in them [i.e., it is not really there] because their [i.e., these actions] being self-interested. In the case of bhakti [i.e., in the case of offering karma to Bhagavān with the desire only of attaining bhakti], on the contrary, pleasing [Bhagavān] alone is present [in such an offering of karma] because of that [i.e., pleasing Bhagavān] being the very life of bhakti. … Great bhaktas pray only for the complete satisfaction of Bhāgavan, that is, pleasing [Bhagavān].”

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sa eva bhakti-yogākhya ātyantika udāhṛtaḥ

sa eva bhakti-yogākhya ātyantika udāhṛtaḥ |
yenātivrajya triguṇāṁ mad-bhāvāyopapadyate ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.14; cited in Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.19.174)

“This [i.e., nirguṇa-bhakti] alone, known as bhakti-yoga, by which one surpasses the three guṇas and becomes fit for my bhāva [i.e., fit to experience my direct presence (bhāva), or, fit to attain prema (bhāva) for me], is declared the absolute [i.e., the supreme puruṣārtha].”

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śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ purāṇam amalaṁ yad vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyaṁ

śrīmad-bhāgavataṁ purāṇam amalaṁ yad vaiṣṇavānāṁ priyaṁ
yasmin pāramahaṁsyam ekam amalaṁ jñānaṁ paraṁ gīyate |
tatra jñāna-virāga-bhakti-sahitaṁ naiṣkarmyam āviskṛtaṁ
tac chṛṇvan su-paṭhan vicāraṇa-paro bhaktyā vimucyen naraḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 12.13.18; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.407)

“Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, the flawless Purāṇa, is dear to the Vaiṣṇavas as within it is sung the unique, flawless, and supreme knowledge that is beneficial even to paramahaṁsas. Therein, the cessation of karma (naiṣkarmya) is brought forth along with knowledge, detachment, and bhakti. A human being who hears, properly recites, and engages in deliberation upon it with bhakti attains the highest liberation.”

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akartuḥ mad-bhaktāv api bhagavān eva me bhaktiṁ kārayatīti buddhyā svātantryeṇa kartṛtvābhimāna-śūnyāt

akartuḥ mad-bhaktāv api bhagavān eva me bhaktiṁ kārayatīti buddhyā svātantryeṇa kartṛtvābhimāna-śūnyāt |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.29.33)

“‘Non-doer’ means one who is such [i.e., a non-doer] on account of being free from the pride of being a doer independently by virtue of the mentality, ’Even in my bhakti [i.e., the bhakti I perform], Bhagavān causes my bhakti to be performed [i.e., I myself perform no action independently without being enabled to perform that action by him].’”

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akartur arpitātmatvena sva-bharaṇādi-karmānapekṣamāṇāt

akartur arpitātmatvena sva-bharaṇādi-karmānapekṣamāṇāt | yad bhagavati bhaktiḥ kriyate, tatrāpi svasya bhagavad-adhīnatvaṁ jñātvā tad-abhimāna-śūnyāc ca |
(Excerpt from the Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā to Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.29.33 and Bhakti Sandarbha: 106)

“‘Non-doer’ means one who is such [i.e., a non-doer] on account of being unconcerned about activities beginning with maintaining oneself because of having offered oneself [to me, Bhagavān], and on account of being free from pride in the bhakti to Bhagavān one performs by understanding one’s own dependence upon Bhagavān therein as well.”

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bhaktir asya bhajanam

bhaktir asya bhajanam | tad ihāmutropādhi-nairāsyenāmuṣmin manaḥ-kalpanam | etad eva ca naiṣkarmyam ||
(Gopāla-tāpanī Upaniṣad: Pūrva, 14; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 1.166; Bhakti Sandarbha 169, 234)

“Bhakti is service (bhajana) to him [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa]. It is engaging in [alt., offering to] him [along with the other senses] the mind free from all upādhis [i.e., material desires, forms of conditioning, etc.] related to this world and the next [i.e., engaging in hearing, praising, remembering, and so forth in relation to him]. And this is indeed [secondarily] naiṣkarmya [i.e., mukti, or jñāna; lit., exoneration from and transcendence of karma].”

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