Search

Therefore, O Arjuna, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always

Whatever our varṇa or āśrama, however, the perfection of our work is to satisfy Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa.

Foolish people say that the Vaiṣṇavas do not work, but the Vaiṣṇavas work for Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours While we are in this material world, we have to work, but we work for Kṛṣṇa. Unless one works for Kṛṣṇa, all his labor is adharma, irreligious sense gratification.

are sinless, but those within this material world are all fruitive workers, whether acting piously or Both kinds of action are possible for them because they are contaminated by the three modes of nature and One who has accepted a material body cannot be inactive, and sinful action is inevitable for one acting Thus in proportion to the extent of one’s religious or irreligious actions in this life, one must enjoy or suffer the corresponding reactions of his karma in the next.”

And how does one who accepts his position as a servant of Kṛṣṇa work?

One who is in the mode of ignorance cannot know what his past life was or what his next life will be; Even though he has a human body, a person in the mode of ignorance and interested only in his present , being covered by ignorance, thinks that the ultimate goal of life is immediate happiness – to eat and Somehow or other one must be enlightened about his past, present, and future. his present body to be everything, without consideration of the past or future.

The real aim of life is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, and varṇāśrama-dharma is the institution of that ideal in human As Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.13), cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ: “I have created

we mold our character and behavior, and by this criterion we fit into a particular social category. There must be a class of kṣatriyas to offer administrative rule and protection. There must be a class of merchants and farmers, the vaiśyas, who trade and perform agricultural duties And there must be a class of śūdras, who render service to the other classes. All men fit into these four classes, each according to his guṇa, or nature.

Then one will be able to accept the injunction to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and always be engaged

knowledge always acts in ignorance of what he has done in the past, what he is doing at the present, and This light is Vedic knowledge, which one can understand when one is elevated to the mode of goodness or when one transcends the mode of goodness by engaging in devotional service to the spiritual master and

There are three energies of the Supreme Lord: the internal energy (parā-śakti), the marginal energy, and entities belong to the marginal energy because they can come under the influence of either the internal or In other words, the direct, internal energy of God is spiritual (parā), and the living entities have in contact with the material energy (kṣetra), the living entity accepts a material body as his self and

not the body but rather the owner of the body, just as we are not our apartment but rather the owner or Sometimes a new motorcar is wrecked in an accident, and the driver is overwhelmed with the sense of loss That is the effect of ahaṅkāra, false ego, or false conception of proprietorship.

Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms this in the Bhagavad-gītā (7.13),

He has multifarious energies, and therefore He is able to remain in His own abode and without endeavor supervise and manipulate the entire cosmic manifestation through the interaction of the three modes of material nature – goodness, passion, and ignorance. These interactions create different forms, bodies, activities, and changes, which all occur perfectly Because the Lord is perfect, everything works as if He were directly supervising and taking part in it

Madhya-līlā 20.108): “The constitutional position of the living entity is that he is eternally a servant of Kṛṣṇa

According to his association with the material modes of nature – goodness, passion, and ignorance – a Such a brāhmaṇa knows past, present, and future because he consults the Vedic literature and sees through He can understand what his past life was, why he is in the present body, and how he can obtain liberation from the clutches of māyā and not accept another material body. Generally, however, the living entities in this material world are engrossed in the modes of passion and

“Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia, and pastimes worship, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one’s best friend, and

controls the entire cosmic manifestation according to the modes of material nature – goodness, passion, and way all living entities are awarded different qualities, different names (such as brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, and vaiśya), different duties according to the varṇāśrama institution, and different forms.

“Deluded by the three modes, the whole world does not know Me, who am above the modes and inexhaustible

How service to the Lord and the spiritual master results in Vedic knowledge is described in the Śvetāśvatara