Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.3.46

vedoktam eva kurvāṇo

niḥsańgo 'rpitam īśvare

naiṣkarmyaḿ labhate siddhiḿ

rocanārthā phala-śrutiḥ

SYNONYMS

veda-uktam — the regulated activities described by the Vedas; eva — certainly; kurvāṇaḥ — performing; nihsańgaḥ — without attachment; arpitam — offered; īśvare — to the Supreme Lord; naiṣkarmyam — of liberation from material work and its reactions; labhate — one achieves; siddhim — the perfection; rocana-arthā — for the purpose of giving encouragement; phala-śrutiḥ — the promises of material results given in the Vedic scriptures.

TRANSLATION

By executing without attachment the regulated activities prescribed in the Vedas, offering the results of such work to the Supreme Lord, one attains the perfection of freedom from the bondage of material work. The material fruitive results offered in the revealed scriptures are not the actual goal of Vedic knowledge, but are meant for stimulating the interest of the performer.

PURPORT

Human life is an opportunity offered by the laws of nature to the conditioned soul so that he may understand his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unfortunately, even in the human form of life most living entities remain addicted to improving the standard of animal activities, namely eating, sleeping, defending and mating. Almost no one is interested in the actual success of life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

śrotavyādīni rājendra

nṛṇāḿ santi sahasraśaḥ

apaśyatām ātma-tattvaḿ

gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām

"Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor." (Bhāg. 2.1.2)

It is stated, parama-kāruṇiko vedaḥ — "Vedic knowledge is supremely merciful" — because it engages the animalistic human beings in a gradual process of purification that culminates in full consciousness of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed by the Lord Himself in Bhagavad-gītā (vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bg. 15.15]). The majority of human beings are not able to suddenly give up material sense gratification, even though they understand from Vedic literature that such sense gratification causes a pernicious future effect. We have practical experience in the Western countries that when the government informed the citizens that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer, most people were unable to give up their smoking habit. Therefore, the Vedic literature prescribes a gradual process of purification in which the conditioned soul learns to offer the results of his material activities to the Supreme Lord, thus spiritualizing those activities. Material sense gratification is based on two organs, namely the tongue for tasting and the genitals for sex life. By offering palatable food to the Deity of Kṛṣṇa and then enjoying the remnants as kṛṣṇa-prasādam and by accepting the rules and regulations for Vedic householder life and begetting of Kṛṣṇa conscious children, one can gradually bring the full range of material activities to the platform of pure devotional service. By offering the fruits of one's ordinary activities to the Supreme Lord, one gradually understands that the Lord Himself, and not material sense gratification, is the actual goal of life. Lord Kṛṣṇa warns in Bhagavad-gītā that if people are prematurely encouraged to give up householder life or the sumptuous remnants of the Lord's prasādam, such artificial renunciation will have the opposite effect.

There is a class of duplicitous men who misunderstand the transcendental purpose of the Vedas and falsely claim that material fruitive results such as promotion to heaven, which is offered in the agniṣṭoma sacrifice, constitute the ultimate goal of the Vedas. Such foolish men have been described by Lord Kṛṣṇa:

yām imāḿ puṣpitāḿ vācaḿ

pravadanty avipaścitaḥ

veda-vāda-ratāḥ pārtha

nānyad astīti vādinaḥ

kāmātmānaḥ svarga-parā

janma-karma-phala-pradām

kriyā-viśeṣa-bahulāḿ

bhogaiśvarya-gatiḿ prati

"Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification and opulent life, they say that there is nothing more than this." (Bg. 2.42-43) To refute such a foolish understanding of the Vedic purpose, this verse uses the word niḥsańgaḥ, which means "without attachment to material results." The actual purpose of the Vedas is arpitam īśvare, to offer everything to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The result is siddhim, or the perfection of life, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The words rocanārthā phala-śrutiḥ clearly indicate that the fruitive results promised in the Vedic literature are meant to stimulate a materialistic person to have faith in the Vedic injunctions. The example is given that a child may be offered candy-covered medicine. The child becomes enthusiastic to take the medicine because of the candy coating, whereas a mature person will be enthusiastic to take the medicine itself, knowing that such medicine is meant for his real self-interest. The mature platform of Vedic understanding is mentioned in the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad (4.4.22): tam etaḿ vedānuvacanena brāhmaṇā vividiṣanti brahmacaryeṇa tapasā śraddhayā yajñenānāśakena ca. "By the teaching of the Vedas and by celibacy, penances, faith and controlled eating, great brāhmaṇas come to know the Supreme." The Supreme is Kṛṣṇa, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā. Although the prescribed rituals of the Vedas may sometimes resemble material fruitive work, the activity is spiritualized because the result is offered to the Supreme. Candy-covered medicine and ordinary candy may appear or taste the same. But the candy-covered medicine has a therapeutic effect not found in ordinary candy. Similarly, the words naiṣkarmyaḿ labhate siddhim in this verse indicate that a faithful follower of the Vedic injunctions will gradually be promoted to the highest perfection of life, pure love of Godhead, as stated by Caitanya Mahāprabhu (premā pum-artho mahān).

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari