Shloka 20
Satī at Dakṣa’s Sacrifice: Condemnation of Blasphemy and Voluntary Departure by Yoga-Fire
कर्म प्रवृत्तं च निवृत्तमप्यृतं वेदे विविच्योभयलिङ्गमाश्रितम् । विरोधि तद्यौगपदैककर्तरि द्वयं तथा ब्रह्मणि कर्म नर्च्छति ॥ २० ॥
karma pravṛttaṁ ca nivṛttam apy ṛtaṁ vede vivicyobhaya-liṅgam āśritam virodhi tad yaugapadaika-kartari dvayaṁ tathā brahmaṇi karma narcchati
In the Vedas there are teachings for two kinds of action: pravṛtti, for those attached to material enjoyment, and nivṛtti, for those who are detached. Their symptoms differ, and to place both at once in a single doer is contradictory. Yet one who is situated in Brahman may transcend and set aside both.
The Vedic activities are so designed that the conditioned soul who has come to enjoy the material world may do so under direction so that at the end he becomes detached from such material enjoyment and is eligible to enter into the transcendental position. The four different social orders — brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa — gradually train a person to come to the platform of transcendental life. The activities and dress of a gṛhastha, or householder, are different from those of a sannyāsī, one in the renounced order of life. It is impossible for one person to adopt both orders. A sannyāsī cannot act like a householder, nor can a householder act like a sannyāsī, but above these two kinds of persons — one who engages in material activities and one who has renounced material activities — there is the person who is transcendental to both. Lord Śiva is in the transcendental position because, as stated before, he is always absorbed in the thought of Lord Vāsudeva within himself. Therefore neither the activities of the gṛhastha nor those of the sannyāsī in the renounced order can be applicable for him. He is in the paramahaṁsa stage, the highest perfectional stage of life. The transcendental position of Lord Śiva is also explained in Bhagavad-gītā (2.52-53). It is stated there that when one fully engages in the transcendental service of the Lord by performing activities without fruitive results, one is elevated to the transcendental position. At that time he has no obligation to follow the Vedic injunctions or the different rules and regulations of the Vedas. When one is above the directions of the Vedic ritualistic injunctions for attaining different allurements and is fully absorbed in transcendental thought, which means thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in devotional service, one is in the position called buddhi-yoga, or samādhi, ecstasy. For a person who has attained this stage, neither the Vedic activities for realizing material enjoyment nor those for renunciation are applicable.
FAQs
This verse explains that the Vedas present both engagement in duty (pravṛtti) and renunciation (nivṛtti) as valid paths, though they seem opposed; the contradiction is resolved when one understands the Supreme as the single controller behind both.
Dhruva was distressed and seeking a way forward; Sunīti instructs him with Vedic discernment—showing that worldly action and renunciation have different aims, and that true refuge lies beyond ego-driven action, in spiritual realization and surrender.
Do your responsibilities without ego and possessiveness, while cultivating inner detachment and devotion—seeing God as the ultimate doer—so work becomes purifying rather than binding.