SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma
buddhi-yogād dhanañ-jaya
buddhau śaranam anviccha
kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ
‘(Fruit-breeding) works, Dhanañjaya1! are verily far inferior to wisdom-yoga. Seek refuge in wisdom. Poor are the fruit-seeking2.’
Verily far inferior is work (done with self-interest), than work which is performed without regard to fruit, and which does not destroy the balance of mind under gain or no gain (of fruit). (This is wisdom-yoga, or work done without expectations and keeping the mind steady under all circumstances). The one kind of work which is done with the wise understanding mentioned, viz., buddhi-yoga or wisdom-yoga (or philosophy of work), removes all samsāra3-suffering, and conducts (the worker) to moksha, -the highest spiritual acme of man’s ambition. The other kind of work (done with longing for fruit) breeds samsāra4, the nature of which is extreme affliction.
Hence, during actual performance of work, seek shelter under wisdom, with mind in equipoise (under every circumstance).
Phala-hetavaḥ are those whose motive to act is reward. But such men are kṛipaṇāh: poor or pitiable, inasmuch as they go into samsāra5. (What makes them poor is the non-gain of moksha, which is eternal wealth.)
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- An epithet for Arjuna, lit: ‘the despiser of wealth’. ↩
- Cf. Br:Up:V-8-10 … ↩
- Lit: that which ‘runs or courses’; means the circuit or circle of wordly existence, mundane life, material existence, matter-tied or matter-consorting existence, conditioned secular career, or matter-soul existence, coursing through a transmigratory revolution of births and deaths alternating. In Indian terms, Purusha consorting with Prakriti (or spirit-matter combination). ↩
- Lit: that which ‘runs or courses’; means the circuit or circle of wordly existence, mundane life, material existence, matter-tied or matter-consorting existence, conditioned secular career, or matter-soul existence, coursing through a transmigratory revolution of births and deaths alternating. In Indian terms, Purusha consorting with Prakriti (or spirit-matter combination). ↩
- Lit: that which ‘runs or courses’; means the circuit or circle of wordly existence, mundane life, material existence, matter-tied or matter-consorting existence, conditioned secular career, or matter-soul existence, coursing through a transmigratory revolution of births and deaths alternating. In Indian terms, Purusha consorting with Prakriti (or spirit-matter combination). ↩