Bhagavad-gita As It Is
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
CHAPTER FOUR
Bg4.10
TEXT 10
vita-raga-bhaya-krodha
man-maya mam upasritah
bahavo jnana-tapasa
puta mad-bhavam agatah
vita—freed from; raga—attachment; bhaya—fear; krodhah—anger; mat-maya—fully in Me; mam—unto Me; upasritah—being fully situated; bahavah—many; jnana—knowledge; tapasa—by penance; putah—being purified; mat-bhavam—transcendental love for Me; agatah—attained.
TRANSLATION
Being freed from attachment, fear and anger, being fully absorbed in Me and taking refuge in Me, many, many persons in the past became purifled by knowledge of Me—and thus they all attained transcendental love for Me.
PURPORT
As described above, it is very difficult for a person who is too materially affected to understand the personal nature of the Supreme Absolute Truth. Generally, people who are attached to the bodily conception of life are so absorbed in materialism that it is almost impossible for them to understand that there is a transcendental body which is imperishable, full of knowledge and eternally blissful. In the materialistic concept, the body is perishable, full of ignorance and completely miserable. Therefore, people in general keep this same bodily idea in mind when they are informed of the personal form of the Lord. For such materialistic men, the form of the gigantic material manifestation is supreme. Consequently they consider the Supreme to be impersonal. And because they are too materially absorbed, the conception of retaining the personality after liberation from matter frightens them. When they are informed that spiritual life is also individual and personal, they become afraid of becoming persons again, and so they naturally prefer a kind of merging into the impersonal void. Generally, they compare the living entities to the bubbles of the ocean, which merge into the ocean. That is the highest perfection of spiritual existence attainable without individual personality. This is a kind of fearful stage of life, devoid of perfect knowledge of spiritual existence. Furthermore there are many persons who cannot understand spiritual existence at all. Being embarassed by so many theories and by contradictions of various types of philosophical speculation, they become disgusted or angry and foolishly conclude that there is no supreme cause and that everything is ultimately void. Such people are in a diseased condition of life. Some people are too materially attached and therefore do not give attention to spiritual life, some of them want to merge into the supreme spiritual cause, and some of them disbelieve in everything, being angry at all sorts of spiritual speculation out of hopelessness. This last class of men take to the shelter of some kind of intoxication, and their affective hallucinations are sometimes accepted as spiritual vision. One has to get rid of all three stages of attachment to the material world: negligence of spiritual life, fear of a spiritual personal identity, and the conception of void that underlies the frustration of life. To get free from these three stages of the material concept of life, one has to take complete shelter of the Lord, guided by the bona fide spiritual master, and follow the disciplines and regulative principles of devotional life. The last stage of the devotional life is called bhava, or transcendental love of Godhead.
According to Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, the science of devotional service:
adau sraddha tatah sadhu-sango ’tha bhajana-kriya
tato ’nartha-nivrttih syat tato nistha rucis tatah
athasaktis tato bhavas tatah premabhyudancati
sadhakanam ayam premnah pradurbhave bhavet kramah.
“In the beginning one must have a preliminary desire for self-realization. This will bring one to the stage of trying to associate with persons who are spiritually elevated. In next stage one becomes initiated by an elevated spiritual master, and under his instruction the neophyte devotee begins the process of devotional service. By execution of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master, one becomes free from all material attachment, attains steadiness in self-realization, and acquires a taste for hearing about the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna. This taste leads one further forward to attachment for Krsna consciousness, which is matured in bhava, or the preliminary stage of transcendental love of God. Real love for God is called prema, the highest perfectional stage of life.” In the prema stage there is constant engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. So, by the slow process of devotional service, under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, one can attain the highest stage, being freed from all material attachment, from the fearfulness of one’s individual spiritual personality, and from the frustrations resulting from void philosophy. Then one can ultimately attain to the abode of the Supreme Lord. Bg4.11 TEXT 11 ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham mama vartmanuvartante manusyah partha sarvasah ye—all of them; yatha—as; mam—unto Me; prapadyante—surrender; tan—unto them; tatha—so; eva—certainly; bhajami—do I reward; aham—I; mama—My; vartma—path; anuvartante—do follow; manusyah—all men; partha—O son of Prtha; sarvasah—in all respects. TRANSLATION All of them—as they surrender unto Me—I reward accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Prtha. PURPORT Eveyone is searching for Krsna in the different aspects of His manifestations. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is partially realized in His impersonal brahmajyoti effulgence and as the all-pervading Supersoul dwelling within everything, including the particles of atoms. But Krsna is only fully realized by His pure devotees. Consequently, Krsna is the object of everyone’s realization, and thus anyone and everyone is satisfied according to one’s desire to have Him. In the transcendental world also, Krsna reciprocates with His pure devotees in the transcendental attitude, just as the devotee wants Him. One devotee may want Krsna as supreme master, another as his personal friend, another as his son, and still another as his lover. Krsna rewards all the devotees equally, according to their different intensities of love for Him. In the material world, the same reciprocations of feelings are there, and they are equally exchanged by the Lord with the different types of worshipers. The pure devotees both here and in the transcendental abode associate with Him in person and are able to render personal service to the Lord and thus derive transcendental bliss in His loving service. As for those who are impersonalists and who want to commit spiritual suicide by annihilating the individual existence of the living entity, Krsna helps also by absorbing them into His effulgence. Such impersonalists do not agree to accept the eternal, blissful Personality of Godhead; consequently they cannot relish the bliss of transcendental personal service to the Lord, having extinguished their individuality. Some of them, who are not situated even in the impersonal existence, return to this material field to exhibit their dormant desires for activities. They are not admitted in the spiritual planets, but they are again given a chance to act on the material planets. For those who are fruitive workers, the Lord awards the desired results of their prescribed duties, as the yajnesvara; and those who are yogis seeking mystic powers are awarded such powers. In other words, everyone is dependant for success upon His mercy alone, and all kinds of spiritual processes are but different degrees of success on the same path. Unless, therefore, one comes to the highest perfection of Krsna consciousness, all attempts remain imperfect, as is stated in the Srimad Bhagavatam: akamah sarva-kamo va moksa-kama udaradhih “Whether one is without desire [the condition of the devotees], or is desirous of all fruitive results, or is after liberation, one should with all efforts try to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead for complete perfection, culminating in Krsna consciousness.” (Bhag. 2.3.10 Bg4.12 TEXT 12 kanksantah karmanam siddhim yajanta iha devatah ksipram hi manuse loke siddhir bhavati karma-ja kanksantah—desiring; karmanam—of fruitive activities; siddhim—perfection; yajante—worship by sacrifices; iha—in the material world; devatah—the demigods; ksipram—very quickly; hi—certainly; manuse—in human society; loke—within this world; siddhih bhavati—becomes successful; karmaja—the fruitive worker. TRANSLATION Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world. PURPORT There is a great misconception about the gods or demigods of this material world, and men of less intelligence, although passing as great scholars, take these demigods to be various forms of the Supreme Lord. Actually, the demigods are not different forms of God, but they are God’s different parts and parcels. God is one, and the parts and parcels are many. The Vedas say, nityo nityanam: God is one. Isvarah paramah krsnah. The Supreme God is one—Krsna—and the demigods are delegated with powers to manage this material world. These demigods are all living entities (nityanam) with different grades of material power. They cannot be equal to the Supreme God—Narayana, Visnu, or Krsna. Anyone who thinks that God and the demigods are on the same level is called an atheist, or pasandi. Even the great demigods like Brahma and Siva cannot be compared to the Supreme Lord. In fact, the Lord is worshiped by demigods such as Brahma and Siva (siva-virinci-nutam). Yet curiously enough there are many human leaders who are worshiped by foolish men under the misunderstanding of anthropomorphism or zoomorphism. Iha devatah denotes a powerful man or demigod of this material world. But Narayana, Visnu or Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, does not belong to this world. He is above, or transcendental to, material creation. Even Sripada Sankaracarya, the leader of the impersonalists, maintains that Narayana, or Krsna, is beyond this material creation. However, foolish people (hrt-anjana) worship the demigods because they want immediate results. They get the results, but do not know that results so obtained are temporary and are meant for less intelligent persons. The intelligent person is in Krsna consciousness, and he has no need to worship the paltry demigods for some immediate, temporary benefit. The demigods of this material world, as well as their worshipers, will vanish with the annihilation of this material world. The boons of the demigods are material and temporary. Both the material worlds and their inhabitants, including the demigods, and their worshipers, are bubbles in the cosmic ocean. In this world, however, human society is mad after temporary things such as the material opulence of possessing land, family and enjoyable paraphernalia. To achieve such temporary things, they worship the demigods or powerful men in human society. If a man gets some ministership in the government by worshiping a political leader, he considers that he has achieved a great boon. All of them are therefore kowtowing to the so-called leaders or “big guns” in order to achieve temporary boons, and they indeed achieve such things. Such foolish men are not interested in Krsna consciousness for the permanent solution to the hardships of material existence. They are all after sense enjoyment, and to get a little facility for sense enjoyment they are attracted to worship empowered living entities known as demigods. This verse indicates that people are rarely interested in Krsna consciousness. They are mostly interested in material enjoyment, and therefore they worship some powerful living entity. Bg4.13 TEXT 13 catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah tasya kartaram api mam viddhy akartaram avyayam catur-varnyam—the four divisions of human society; maya—by Me; srstam—created; guna—quality; karma—work; vibhagasah—in terms of division; tasya—of that; kartaram—the father; api—although; mam—Me; viddhi—you may know; akartaram—as the non-doer; avyayam—being unchangeable. TRANSLATION According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me. And, although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable. PURPORT The Lord is the creator of everything. Everything is born of Him, everything is sustained by Him, and everything, after annihilation, rests in Him. He is therefore the creator of the four divisions of the social order, beginning with the intelligent class of men, technically called brahmanas due to their being situated in the mode of goodness. Next is the administrative class, technically called the ksatriyas due to their being situated in the mode of passion. The mercantile men, called the vaisyas, are situated in the mixed modes of passion and ignorance, and the sudras, or laborer class, are situated in the ignorant mode of material nature. In spite of His creating the four divisions of human society, Lord Krsna does not belong to any of these divisions, because He is not one of the conditioned souls, a section of whom form human society. Human society is similar to any other animal society, but to elevate men from the animal status, the abovementioned divisions are created by the Lord for the systematic development of Krsna consciousness. The tendency of a particular man toward work is determined by the modes of material nature which he has acquired. Such symptoms of life, according to different modes of material nature, are described in the Eighteenth Chapter of this book. A person in Krsna consciousness, however, is above even the brahmanas, because a brahmana by quality is supposed to know about Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth. Most of them approach the impersonal Brahman manifestation of Lord Krsna, but only a man who transcends the limited knowledge of a brahmana and reaches the knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krsna, becomes a person in Krsna consciousness—or, in other words, a Vaisnava. Krsna consciousness includes knowledge of all different plenary expansions of Krsna, namely Rama, Nrsimha, Varaha, etc. However, as Krsna is transcendental to this system of the four divisions of human society, a person in Krsna consciousness is also transcendental to all divisions of human society, whether we consider the divisions of community, nation or species. Bg4.14 TEXT 14 na mam karmani limpanti na me karma-phale sprha iti mam yo ’bhijanati karmabhir na sa badhyate na—never; mam—unto Me; karmani—all kinds of work; limpanti—do affect; na—nor; me—My; karma-phale—in fruitive action; sprha—aspiration; iti—thus; mam—unto Me; yah—one who; abhijanati—does know; karmabhih—by the reaction of such work; na—never does; sah—he; badhyate—become entangled. TRANSLATION There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about Me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work. PURPORT As there are constitutional laws in the material world stating that the king can do no wrong, or that the king is not subject to the state laws, similarly the Lord, although He is the creator of this material world, is not affected by the activities of the material world. He creates and remains aloof from the creation, whereas the living entities are entangled in the fruitive results of material activities because of their propensity for lording it over material resources. The proprietor of an establishment is not responsible for the right and wrong activities of the workers, but the workers are themselves responsible. The living entities are engaged in their respective activities of sense gratification, and these activities are not ordained by the Lord. For advancement of sense gratification, the living entities are engaged in the work of this world, and they aspire to heavenly happiness after death. The Lord, being full in Himself, has no attraction for so-called heavenly happiness. The heavenly demigods are only His engaged servants. The proprietor never desires the low-grade happiness such as the workers may desire. He is aloof from the material actions and reactions. For example, the rains are not responsible for different types of vegetation that appear on the earth, although without such rains there is no possibility of vegetative growth. Vedic smrti confirms this fact as follows: nimitta-matram evasau srjyanam sarga-karmani In the material creations, the Lord is only the supreme cause. The immediate cause is material nature by which the cosmic manifestation is visible. The created beings are of many varieties, such as the demigods, human beings and lower animals, and all of them are subject to the reactions of their past good or bad activities. The Lord only gives them the proper facilities for such activities and the regulations of the modes of nature, but He is never responsible for their past and present activities. In the Vedanta-sutras it is confirmed that the Lord is never partial to any living entity. The living entity is responsible for his own acts. The Lord only gives him facilities, through the agency of material nature, the external energy. Anyone who is fully conversant with all the intricacies of this law of karma, or fruitive activities, does not become affected by the results of his activities. In other words, the person who understands this transcendental nature of the Lord is an experienced man in Krsna consciousness, and thus he is never subjected to the laws of karma. One who does not know the transcendental nature of the Lord and who thinks that the activities of the Lord are aimed at fruitive results, as are the activities of the ordinary living entities, certainly becomes entangled himself in fruitive reaction. But one who knows the Supreme Truth is a liberated soul fixed in Krsna consciousness. Bg4.15 TEXT 15 evam jnatva krtam karma purvair api mumuksubhih kuru karmaiva tasmat tvam purvaih purvataram krtam evam—thus; jnatva—knowing well; krtam—performed; karma—work; purvaih—by past authorities; api—although; mumuksubhih—who attained liberation; kuru—just perform; karma—prescribed duty; eva—certainly; tasmat—therefore; tvam—you; purvaih—by the predecessors; purvataram—ancient predecessors; krtam—as performed. TRANSLATION All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding and so attained liberation. Therefore, as the ancients, you should perform your duty in this divine consciousness. PURPORT There are two classes of men. Some of them are full of polluted material things within their hearts, and some of them are materially free. Krsna consciousness is equally beneficial for both of these persons. Those who are full of dirty things can take to the line of Krsna consciousness for a gradual cleansing process, following the regulative principles of devotional service. Those who are already cleansed of the impurities may continue to act in the same Krsna consciousness so that others may follow their exemplary activities and thereby be benefitted. Foolish persons or neophytes in Krsna consciousness often want to retire from activities without having knowledge of Krsna consciousness. Arjuna’s desire to retire from activities on the battlefield was not approved by the Lord. One need only know how to act. To retire from the activities of Krsna consciousness and to sit aloof making a show of Krsna consciousness; is less important than actually engaging in the field of activities for the sake of Krsna. Arjuna is here advised to act in Krsna consciousness, following in the footsteps of the Lord’s previous disciples, such as the sun-god Vivasvan, as mentioned hereinbefore. The Supreme Lord knows all His past activities, as well as those of persons who acted in Krsna consciousness in the past. Therefore He recommends the acts of the sun-god, who learned this art from the Lord some millions of years before. All such students of Lord Krsna are mentioned here as past liberated persons, engaged in the discharge of duties allotted by Krsna. Bg4.16 TEXT 16 kim karma kim akarmeti kavayo ’py atra mohitah tat te karma pravaksyami yaj jnatva moksyase ’subhat kim—what is; karma—action; kim—what is; akarma—inaction; iti—thus; kavayah—the intelligent; api—also; atra—in this matter; mohitah—bewildered; tat—that; te—unto you; karma—work; pravaksyami—I shall explain; yat—which; jnatva—knowing; moksyase—be liberated; asubhat—from ill fortune. TRANSLATION Even the intelligent are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction. Now I shall explain to you what action is, knowing which you shall be liberated from all sins. PURPORT Action in Krsna consciousness has to be executed in accord with the examples of previous bona fide devotees. This is recommended in the 15th verse. Why such action should not be independant will be explained in the text to follow. To act in Krsna consciousness, one has to follow the leadership of authorized persons who are in a line of disciplic succession as explained in the beginning of this chapter. The system of Krsna consciousness was first narrated to the sun-god, the sun-god explained it to his son Manu, Manu explained it to his son Iksvaku, and the system is current on this earth from that very remote time. Therefore, one has to follow in the footsteps of previous authorities in the line of disciplic succession. Otherwise even the most intelligent men will be bewildered regarding the standard actions of Krsna consciousness. For this reason, the Lord decided to instruct Arjuna in Krsna consciousness directly. Because of the direct instruction of the Lord to Arjuna, anyone who follows in the footsteps of Arjuna is certainly not bewildered. It is said that one cannot ascertain the ways of religion simply by imperfect experimental knowledge. Actually, the principles of religion can only be laid down by the Lord Himself. Dharmam hi saksat-bhagavat-pranitam. No one can manufacture a religious principle by imperfect speculation. One must follow in the footsteps of great authorities like Brahma, Siva, Narada, Manu, Kumara, Kapila, Prahlada, Bhisma, Sukadeva Gosvami, Yamaraja, Janaka, etc. By mental speculation one cannot ascertain what is religion or self-realization. Therefore, out of causeless mercy to His devotees, the Lord explains directly to Arjuna what action is and what inaction is. Only action performed in Krsna consciousness can deliver a person from the entanglement of material existence. Bg4.17 TEXT 17 karmano hy api boddhavyam boddhavyam ca vikarmanah akarmanas ca boddhavyam gahana karmano gatih karmanah—working order ; hi—certainly; api—also; boddhavyam—should be understood; boddhavyam—to be understood; ca—also; vikarmanah—forbidden work; akarmanah—inaction; ca—also; boddhavyam—should be understood; gahana—very difficult; karmanah—working order; gatih—to enter into. TRANSLATION The intricacies of action are very hard to understand. Therefore one should know properly what action is, what forbidden action is, and what inaction is. If one is serious about liberation from material bondage, one has to understand the distinctions between action, inaction and unauthorized actions. One has to apply oneself to such an analysis of action, reaction and perverted actions because it is a very difficult subject matter. To understand Krsna consciousness and action according to the modes, one has to learn one’s relationship with the Supreme; i.e., one who has learned perfectly knows that every living entity is the eternal servitor of the Lord and that consequently one has to act in Krsna consciousness. The entire Bhagavad-gita is directed toward this conclusion. Any other conclusions, against this consciousness and its attendant reactions, are vikarmas, or prohibitive actions. To understand all this one has to associate with authorities in Krsna consciousness and learn the secret from them; this is as good as learning from the Lord directly. Otherwise, even the most intelligent person will be bewildered. Bg4.18 TEXT 18 karmany akarma yah pasyed akarmani ca karma yah sa buddhiman manusyesu sa yuktah krtsna-karma-krt karmani—in action; akarma—inaction; yah—one who; pasyet—observes; akarmani—in inaction; ca—also; karma—fruitive action; yah—one who; sah—he; buddhiman—is intelligent; manusyesu—in human society; sah—he; yuktah—is in the transcendental position; krtsna-karma-krt—although engaged in all activities. TRANSLATION One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the tranecendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities. PURPORT A person acting in Krsna consciousness is naturally free from the bonds of karma. His activities are all performed for Krsna; therefore he does not enjoy or suffer any of the effects of work. Consequently he is intelligent in human society, even though he is engaged in all sorts of activities for Krsna. Akarma means without reaction to work. The impersonalist ceases fruitive activities out of fear, so that the resultant action may not be a stumbling block on the path of self-realization, but the personalist knows rightly his position as the eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore he engages himself in the activities of Krsna consciousness. Because everything is done for Krsna, he enjoys only transcendental happiness in the discharge of this service. Those who are engaged in this process are known to be without desire for personal sense gratification. The sense of eternal servitorship to Krsna makes one immune to all sorts of reactionary elements of work. Bg4.19 TEXT 19 yasya sarve samarambhah kama-sankalpa-varjitah jnanagni-dagdha-karmanam tam ahuh panditam budhah yasya—one whose; sarve—all sorts of; samarambhah—in all attempts; kama—desire for sense gratification; sankalpa—determination; varjitah—are devoid of; jnana—of perfect knowledge; agni—fire; dagdha—being burnt by; karmanam—the performer; tam—him; ahuh—declare; panditam—learned; budhah—those who know. TRANSLATION One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge. PURPORT Only a person in full knowledge can understand the activities of a person in Krsna consciousness. Because the person in Krsna consciousness is devoid of all kinds of sense-gratificatory propensities, it is to be understood that he has burned up the reactions of his work by perfect knowledge of his constitutional position as the eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is actually learned who has attained to such perfection of knowledge. Development of this knowledge of the eternal servitorship of the Lord is compared to fire. Such a fire, once kindled, can burn up all kinds of reactions to work. Bg4.20 TEXT 20 tyaktva karma-phalasangam nitya-trpto nirasrayah karmany abhipravrtto ’pi naiva kincit karoti sah tyaktva—having given up; karma-phala-asangam—attachment for fruitive results; nitya—always; trptah—being satisfied; nirasrayah—without any center; karmani—in activity; abhipravrttah—being fully engaged; api—in spite of; na—does not; eva—certainly; kincit—anything; karoti—do; sah—he. TRANSLATION Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, ever satisfied and independant, he performs no fruitive action, although engaged in all kinds of undertakings. PURPORT This freedom from the bondage of actions is possible only in Krsna consciousness when one is doing everything for Krsna. A Krsna conscious person acts out of pure love for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore he has no attraction for the results of the action. He is not even attached to his personal maintenance, for everything is left to Krsna. Nor is he anxious to secure things, nor to protect things already in his possession. He does his duty to his best ability and leaves everything to Krsna. Such an unattached person is always free from the resultant reactions of good and bad; it is as though he were not doing anything. This is the sign of akarma, or actions without fruitive reactions. Any other action, therefore, devoid of Krsna consciousness, is binding upon the worker, and that is the real aspect of vikarma, as explained hereinbefore. Bg4.21 TEXT 21 nirasir yata-cittatma tyakta-sarva-parigrahah sariram kevalam karma kurvan napnoti kilbisam nirasih—without desire for the results; yata—controlled; citta-atma—mind and intelligence; tyakta—giving up; sarva—all; parigrahah—sense of proprietorship over all possessions; sariram—in keeping body and soul together; kevalam—only; karma—work; kurvan—doing so; na—never; apnoti—does not acquire; kilbisam—sinful reactions. TRANSLATION Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions. PURPORT A Krsna conscious person does not expect good or bad results in his activities. His mind and intelligence are fully controlled. He knows that he is part and parcel of the Supreme, and therefore the part played by him, as a part and parcel of the whole, is not his by choice but is chosen for him by the Supreme and is done only through His agency. When the hand moves, it does not move out of its own accord, but by the endeavor of the whole body. A Krsna conscious person is always dovetailed with the supreme desire, for he has no desire for personal sense gratification. He moves exactly like a part of a machine. As a machine part requires oiling and cleaning for maintenance, similarly, a Krsna conscious man maintains himself by his work just to remain fit for action in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. He is therefore immune to all the reactions of his endeavors. Like an animal, he has no proprietorship even over his own body. A cruel proprietor of an animal sometimes kills the animal in his possession, yet the animal does not protest. Nor does it have any real independence. A Krsna conscious person, fully engaged in self-realization, has very little time to falsely possess any material object. For maintaining body and soul, he does not require unfair means of accumulating money. He does not, therefore, become contaminated by such material sins. He is free from all reactions to his actions. Bg4.22 TEXT 22 yadrccha-labha-santusto dvandvatito vimatsarah samah siddhav asiddhau ca krtvapi na nibadhyate yadrccha—out of its own accord; labha—gain; santustah—satisfied; dvandva—duality; atitah—surpassed; vimatsarah—free from envy; samah—steady; siddhau—in success; asiddhau—failure; ca—also; krtva—doing; api—although; na—never; nibadhyate—is affected. TRANSLATION He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady both in success and failure, is never entangled, although performing actions. PURPORT A Krsna conscious person does not make much endeavor even to maintain his body. He is satisfied with gains which are obtained of their own accord. He neither begs nor borrows, but he labors honestly as far as is in his power, and is satisfied with whatever is obtained by his own honest labor. He is therefore independant in his livelihood. He does not allow anyone’s service to hamper his own service in Krsna consciousness. However, for the service of the Lord he can participate in any kind of action without being disturbed by the duality of the material world. The duality of the material world is felt in terms of heat and cold, or misery and happiness. A Krsna conscious person is above duality because he does not hesitate to act in any way for the satisfaction of Krsna. Therefore he is steady both in success and in failure. These signs are visible when one is fully in transcendental knowledge.
tivrena bhakti-yogena yajeta purusam param
pradhana-karani-bhuta yato vai srjya-saktayah.