Chapter 5: Karma-yoga — Action in Kṛṣṇa Consciousness

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 5.21

bāhya-sparśeṣv asaktātmā

vindaty ātmani yat sukham

sa brahma-yoga-yuktātmā

sukham akṣayam aśnute

SYNONYMS

bāhya-sparśeṣuin external sense pleasure; asakta-ātmā — one who is not attached; vindati — enjoys; ātmaniin the self; yat — that which; sukham — happiness; saḥhe; brahma-yoga — by concentration in Brahman; yukta-ātmā — self-connected; sukham — happiness; akṣayam — unlimited; aśnute — enjoys.

TRANSLATION

Such a liberated person is not attracted to material sense pleasure but is always in trance, enjoying the pleasure within. In this way the self-realized person enjoys unlimited happiness, for he concentrates on the Supreme.

PURPORT

Śrī Yāmunācārya, a great devotee in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, said:

yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāravinde

nava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataḿ rantum āsīt

tad-avadhi bata nārī-sańgame smaryamāne

bhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaḿ ca

"Since I have been engaged in the transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa, realizing ever-new pleasure in Him, whenever I think of sex pleasure I spit at the thought, and my lips curl with distaste." A person in brahma-yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is so absorbed in the loving service of the Lord that he loses his taste for material sense pleasure altogether. The highest pleasure in terms of matter is sex pleasure. The whole world is moving under its spell, and a materialist cannot work at all without this motivation. But a person engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness can work with greater vigor without sex pleasure, which he avoids. That is the test in spiritual realization. Spiritual realization and sex pleasure go ill together. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person is not attracted to any kind of sense pleasure, due to his being a liberated soul.

<<< >>>

Buy Online Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness