Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 31
The Lord’s Supervision of Embodiment: Fetal Development, Womb-Suffering, and the Jīva’s Prayer (Garbha-stuti) — and the Trap of Māyā
तदर्थं कुरुते कर्म यद्बद्धो याति संसृतिम् । योऽनुयाति ददत्क्लेशमविद्याकर्मबन्धन: ॥ ३१ ॥
tad-arthaṁ kurute karma yad-baddho yāti saṁsṛtim yo ’nuyāti dadat kleśam avidyā-karma-bandhanaḥ
この身体のために彼は業をなすが、その業に縛られて輪廻へと赴く。無明と業の束縛に結ばれたこの身体は、彼に苦悩を与えつつ付き従う。
In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that one has to work to satisfy Yajña, or Viṣṇu, for any work done without the purpose of satisfying the Supreme Personality of Godhead is a cause of bondage. In the conditioned state a living entity, accepting his body as himself, forgets his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead and acts on the interest of his body. He takes the body as himself, his bodily expansions as his kinsmen, and the land from which his body is born as worshipable. In this way he performs all sorts of misconceived activities, which lead to his perpetual bondage in repetition of birth and death in various species.
FAQs
This verse explains that actions done for material aims bind the soul, and that bondage propels one into saṁsāra—repeated birth and death—accompanied by suffering.
In Kapila’s teachings to Devahūti, he analyzes the conditioned soul’s entanglement; here he highlights that ignorance fuels karmic action, which in turn binds the jīva to transmigration.
Notice which actions are driven by material obsession and attachment; reduce binding motivations and cultivate God-centered intention (bhakti), so work no longer deepens ignorance-based bondage.