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kurvann eveha karmāṇi
jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ
evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto ’sti
na karma lipyate nare

SYNONYMS

kurvan—doing continuously; eva—thus; iha—during this span of life; karmāṇi—work; jijīviṣet—one should desire to live; śatam—one hundred; samāḥ—years; evam—so living; tvayi—unto you; na—no; anyathā—alternative; itaḥ—from this path; asti—there is; na—not; karma—work; lipyate—can be bound; nare—unto a man

Translation

One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.

Purport

It is natural to want to live forever, because we are eternal spiritual beings. The human quest for immortality is a recognized dynamic of the human existential condition, not only individually but also collectively in community, society and political life. We see this dynamic reflected in great works of art, literature, music and in the daily struggle for survival by all kinds of living entities. According to the Vedas this is quite natural.

The spiritual living being in the material world is eternal by constitution, but because his consciousness is conditioned by a materialistic ontological orientation, he develops attachments to the fruits of his work, and thus has to change his body again and again to satisfy his material desires. This process is called transmigration of the soul or samsara, the wheel of birth and death, and it operates by the law of karma-bandhana, willing bondage to the reactions of one’s work.

If the living entity wants to eat, he has to work. But every activity he performs creates an unintended reaction of equivalent quality and quantity. That conservation of energy and information is the law of material nature, which cannot be broken by the embodied beings, but it can be transcended.

Non-human beings such as animals and plants are also jiva souls going through the cycle of samsara, but their embodiments do not permit the complete manifestation of the properties of consciousness inherent in the spirit soul. When the living entity attains a human embodiment, which does have full consciousness, he gets a rare opportunity to escape the bondage of karma.

There are three modes of karmic actions and their temporal reactions: goodness (sattva), passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas). Activities in the mode of ignorance lead to degradation of consciousness and rebirth in animal species; activities in the mode of passion lead to a continuation of material bondage in a human body; and activities in the mode of goodness gradually lead to higher consciousness and liberation from samsara.

In terms of ultimate results, ignorant actions performed through the misuse of free will that direct one to the lower life forms are called vikarma. Passionate actions performed to attain specific objects in terms of prescribed human duties are called karma. Actions in spiritual consciousness that free one from the cycle of birth and death are called akarma.

Of these three types of action, foolish people perform vikarma because it seems to offer immediate gratification; passionate people like karma because it seems to be a reliable method of attaining material prosperity and success; but intelligent people prefer akarma, which frees one from the reactions of karma and vikarma and leads to complete liberation from temporary material existence.

So the Vedas see three types of everything, including spiritual conceptions and work. The foolishness performed by ignorant people in the name of sense enjoyment leads simply to greater ignorance. The ordinary work men perform for recognition and status in society may help them achieve superior enjoyment of life in this world or in heaven. But truly advanced people want to be completely free from the reactions of work.

Intelligent men regard both good and bad work, karma and vikarma, as equally binding; attachment and aversion are both based on a relationship with the material qualities, so they are identical in terms of the quality of consciousness they evoke. We do not want to be controlled by impersonal physical laws, but by the highest principles of spontaneous ecstatic spiritual love. Consequently the students of the Esoteric Teaching seek engagement that will free them from the reactions of both good and bad work. Such liberating work (akarma) is a very important stage on the path of liberation advocated by Sri Isopanisad.

The path of Sri Isopanisad is more elaborately explained in the Esoteric Teaching of Bhagavad-gita. The Sanskrit term Upanisad derives from the roots upa—near, ni—down and sad—to sit, meaning that one should sit down near a spiritual Master Teacher (guru) in order to receive instruction in the esoteric tradition or parampara. The Upanisads are excerpts from the original four Vedas full of the most essential and important questions and answers between great Vedic gurus and their disciples.

The Gita sometimes is called Gitopanisad, because it is the cream of the Upanisads spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Bhagavad-gita is just like a cow, and Arjuna is just like a calf who drinks the nectarean creamy milk of the Gita. Bhagavad-gita addresses all the most crucial issues of the Upanisads, and the topics raised by the sloka under discussion—karma, akarma, vikarma and the three modes of karmic action and reaction—are very clearly described in Bhagavad-gita.

In Bhagavad-gita [3.9–16] the Personality of Godhead explains how to attain the state of naiskarmya, or akarma, by executing the Vedic spiritual process. This process regulates the dynamic spiritual energy of a human being to produce direct consciousness of the Supreme Being. When he surrenders to the Supreme Personality of Godhead—Vasudeva or Kṛṣṇa—he has attained the experiential stage of positive spiritual knowledge. The material modes of goodness, passion and ignorance cannot act on a person in such an exalted state of consciousness, and he continues working from that point on the platform of naiskarmya by the power of focused vyavasayatmika intelligence [Bhagavad-gita 2.41], releasing him from the karmic cycle of birth and death.

Offering our work and other actions exclusively for the service and pleasure of the Lord is an attitude that can be carried into all human activities and experiences. The devotional service mood can engage our consciousness in the spiritual conception of life in any circumstances. Factually, human life is complete and perfect as soon as we render uninterrupted, unmotivated devotional service to the Lord in our original spiritual consciousness.

However, we experience that in the neophyte stage of spiritual life, we cannot completely stop fruitive work, nor immediately adopt the exalted moods and activities of pure devotional service. As conditioned souls, we are accustomed by long habit to working for our own immediate or extended selfish interest. When the principle of sense enjoyment is extended to include family, society, nation or humanity in general, it assumes various attractive names and features such as altruism, socialism, communism, nationalism and humanitarianism. Unfortunately, in the absence of a proper connection with the Absolute, these causes are simply very bewildering forms maya or illusion, for they are simply different names and forms of karma-bandhana (karmic bondage), activities leading to an indefinite term of rebirth in the material world.

The Vedic instruction of Sri Isopanisad is that if one actually wants to dedicate his life energy to idealistic purposes, then he should apply the timeless truths of the Esoteric Teaching to make them God-centered. We do not teach dry renunciation of work, but dovetailing one’s vital interests and consuming passions to the ultimate cause of God consciousness. A student or teacher of the Esoteric Teaching can also be a family man, an altruist, an environmentalist or a humanitarian, provided that he dedicates his activities in the spirit of isavasya, the God-centered ontological conception given in Mantra One of Sri Isopanisad.

nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti
pratyavāyo na vidyate
sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trāyate mahato bhayāt

“In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.” [Bhagavad-gita 2.40]

God-centered activities are so valuable that even a small investment of energy in them saves a person from the greatest danger. If a human being misses the spiritual opportunity offered by this human form of life, he must be considered a most unfortunate person. Thus the greatest danger is losing the rare privilege of human life and gliding down again into the cycle of birth and death in the 8,000,000 subhuman species. Foolish people cannot see that this is happening because of their ignorance of the subtle laws of action, consciousness, karma and spirit.

Consequently Sri Isopanisad advises us to exert our energy in the spirit of isavasya, the Vedic God-centered ontological conception of life. Being so engaged, we may wish to live for many years, because everything we do will be good for us. Otherwise the longer we live in this material world, the more material activities we will perform to implicate ourselves in the cycle of birth and death.

Trees live for centuries, but what is the benefit in living a life of ignorance and bondage like a tree? Bellows also breathe, but what is the value of such mechanical breathing? Dogs and rabbits are very expert in reproduction, but shall we imitate their lifestyle and morals? Hogs and camels are very expert in eating, but shall we dedicate our precious lives to such pastimes?

Therefore the Esoteric Teaching holds that a humble life of God consciousness is far more valuable in terms of our future prospects than the colossal hoax of a so-called successful life of service to godless materialism. When we perform unselfish service activities in the spirit of isavasya, they become the transcendental service activities of karma-yoga, as explained and recommended in Bhagavad-gita [entire Chapter 5, and 18.5–9]. Even though such God-centered activities may be imperfect or unfinished, they are still good for us because they guarantee that we will not be demoted to the animal species, and will have at least a human form in the next birth, to get another chance to progress on the path of liberation.

The Esoteric Teaching explains and encourages us to perform God-centered activities now, within our human life in this material world. Our Esoteric Teaching website (esotericteaching.org) contains many introductory articles and training materials. Also, any serious student of the Esoteric Teaching should make a careful and detailed study of Bhagavad-gita. The problem is, very few editions of Bhagavad-gita are published by actual disciplic descendants of Kṛṣṇa.

Our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada has made a tremendous contribution in his classic translation and commentary, Bhagavad-gita As It Is. This powerful book established Kṛṣṇa consciousness in Western society. Therefore we highly recommend this valuable book to all who are interested in performing their activities in the spiritual consciousness recommended in Sri Isopanisad.

Note: Make sure to read the original or reprint of the 1972 MacMillan edition. Later editions may contain spurious posthumous editorial changes.

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