Shloka 29
Nārada’s Instructions: Śrāddha, True Dharma, Contentment, Yoga, and Devotion-Centered Renunciation
यथा वार्तादयो ह्यर्था योगस्यार्थं न बिभ्रति । अनर्थाय भवेयु: स्म पूर्तमिष्टं तथासत: ॥ २९ ॥
yathā vārtādayo hy arthā yogasyārthaṁ na bibhrati anarthāya bhaveyuḥ sma pūrtam iṣṭaṁ tathāsataḥ
De même que les profits des activités mondaines n’aident pas l’essor du yoga et deviennent cause d’enchevêtrement matériel, de même les rites védiques n’apportent aucun bien spirituel à celui qui est dépourvu de bhakti envers la Suprême Personnalité de Dieu.
If one becomes very rich through his professional activities, through trade or through agriculture, this does not mean that he is spiritually advanced. To be spiritually advanced is different from being materially rich. Although the purpose of life is to become spiritually rich, unfortunate men, misguided as they are, are always engaged in trying to become materially rich. Such material engagements, however, do not help one in the actual fulfillment of the human mission. On the contrary, material engagements lead one to be attracted to many unnecessary necessities, which are accompanied by the risk that one may be born in a degraded condition. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (14.18) :
FAQs
This verse says that pūrta (public welfare charity) and iṣṭa (ritual sacrifices), when done without devotion and spiritual aim, become anartha—producing unwanted bondage rather than yoga’s true goal.
In Canto 7, Chapter 15, Nārada instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on real dharma and the path of liberation, warning that merely material piety and economic activity, without bhakti and detachment, do not fulfill yoga’s purpose.
Do work, charity, and religious practice as offerings to Bhagavān with humility and remembrance—prioritizing bhakti and inner purification—so that “good deeds” don’t become ego-driven entanglement.