कर्मनिर्हारमुद्दिश्य परस्मिन्वा तदर्पणम् ।
यजेद्यष्टव्यमिति वा पृथग्भाव: स सात्त्विक: ॥
karma-nirhāram uddiśya parasmin vā tad-arpaṇam |
yajed yaṣṭavyam iti vā pṛthag-bhāvaḥ sa sāttvikaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 3.29.10 cited in Bhakti Sandarbha: 233)
“[Kapiladeva:] One possessed of separate disposition (bhāva) who shall worship [me in the deity and elsewhere] for the sake of removing karma [i.e., to attain mokṣa], [for the sake of] offering that [i.e., one’s karma] to the Supreme, or as a duty, is sāttvika [i.e., of the nature of sattva-guṇa].”
Commentary
karma-nirhāraṁ mokṣam uddiśya parasmin parameśvare yo vā karmārpaṇaṁ kurute yo vā yaṣṭavyaṁ sarveṣāṁ nitya-vidhi-prāptatvenāvaśyam eva tat-pūjanaṁ kartavyam iti buddhyā na tu bhakti-tattva-jñānena yo yajet parameśvaraṁ pūjayati, ata eva pūrvavat pṛthag-bhāvo bhakteḥ pṛthag mokṣam eva puruṣārthatvena bhāvayan sa sāttvika ucyate |
(Krama-sandarbha-ṭīkā; Bhakti Sandarbha: 233)
“For the sake of (uddiśya) ‘removing karma’ (karma-nirhāram), that is, mokṣa, or, [for the sake of] offering one’s karma to the Supreme (parasmin), that is, the Supreme Lord, or, with the mentality of it being a duty, that is, with the mentality that worship of him [i.e., the Supreme Lord] is necessary because it is an enjoined daily rite, and not because of understanding the nature (tattva) of bhakti, one who shall worship, that is, one thus possessed of separate disposition (bhāva) as previously [i.e., as in the case of tāmasī bhaktas and rājasī bhaktas], thinking of mokṣa, which is separate from bhakti, as the goal of human life (puruṣārtha), who worships the Supreme Lord is called sāttvika.”