Shloka 8
Avatāra-kathā — The Puruṣa, the Many Incarnations, and Kṛṣṇa as Svayam Bhagavān
तृतीयमृषिसर्गं वै देवर्षित्वमुपेत्य स: । तन्त्रं सात्वतमाचष्ट नैष्कर्म्यं कर्मणां यत: ॥ ८ ॥
tṛtīyam ṛṣi-sargaṁ vai devarṣitvam upetya saḥ tantraṁ sātvatam ācaṣṭa naiṣkarmyaṁ karmaṇāṁ yataḥ
Im Zeitalter der ṛṣis nahm der Herr den dritten Avatāra als Devarṣi Nārada an. Er sammelte vedische Darlegungen über bhakti-sevā und lehrte das Sātvata-tantra, das zu fruchtlosem, selbstlosem Handeln inspiriert.
The great Ṛṣi Nārada, who is an empowered incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, propagates devotional service all over the universe. All great devotees of the Lord all over the universe and in different planets and species of life are his disciples. Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the compiler of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, is also one of his disciples. Nārada is the author of Nārada-pañcarātra, which is the exposition of the Vedas particularly for the devotional service of the Lord. This Nārada-pañcarātra trains the karmīs, or the fruitive workers, to achieve liberation from the bondage of fruitive work. The conditioned souls are mostly attracted by fruitive work because they want to enjoy life by the sweat of their own brows. The whole universe is full of fruitive workers in all species of life. The fruitive works include all kinds of economic development plans. But the law of nature provides that every action has its resultant reaction, and the performer of the work is bound up by such reactions, good or bad. The reaction of good work is comparative material prosperity, whereas the reaction of bad work is comparative material distress. But material conditions, either in so-called happiness or in so-called distress, are all meant ultimately for distress only. Foolish materialists have no information of how to obtain eternal happiness in the unconditional state. Śrī Nārada informs these foolish fruitive workers how to realize the reality of happiness. He gives direction to the diseased men of the world how one’s present engagement can lead one to the path of spiritual emancipation. The physician directs the patient to take treated milk in the form of curd for his sufferings from indigestion due to his taking another milk preparation. So the cause of the disease and the remedy of the disease may be the same, but it must be treated by an expert physician like Nārada. The Bhagavad-gītā also gives the same solution of serving the Lord by the fruits of one’s labor. That will lead one to the path of naiṣkarmya, or liberation.
FAQs
It states that through the Sātvata-tantra taught by the Lord in His third incarnation, one learns how actions can be performed without binding karmic reactions—naiṣkarmya.
The verse indicates the Lord’s incarnation connected with the status of Devarṣi; traditionally this points to Nārada, the divine sage associated with spreading bhakti teachings.
Do your duties as service to Bhagavān—offering results to God and acting in devotion—so work becomes purifying rather than binding.