Srimad Bhagavatam — Chaturtha Skandha, Shloka 7
Purañjana Goes Hunting — The Chariot of the Body, Violence of Passion, and Return to Conjugal Bondage
य एवं कर्म नियतं विद्वान् कुर्वीत मानव: । कर्मणा तेन राजेन्द्र ज्ञानेन न स लिप्यते ॥ ७ ॥
ya evaṁ karma niyataṁ vidvān kurvīta mānavaḥ karmaṇā tena rājendra jñānena na sa lipyate
พระนารदมุนีตรัสกับพระเจ้าปราจีนบาร์หิษัตต่อไปว่า: ข้าแต่พระราชา ผู้ใดที่ปฏิบัติหน้าที่ตามคำสอนของพระเวท ย่อมไม่ติดอยู่ในบ่วงกรรม
Just as a government may issue trade licenses in order for its citizens to act in a certain way, the Vedas contain injunctions that restrain and regulate all of our fruitive activities. All living entities have come into this material world to enjoy themselves. Consequently, the Vedas are given to regulate sense enjoyment. One who enjoys his senses under the Vedic regulative principles does not become entangled in the actions and reactions of his activities. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.9) , yajñārthāt karmaṇaḥ: one should act only for the performance of yajña, or to satisfy Lord Viṣṇu. Anyatra loko ’yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ: otherwise any action will produce a reaction by which the living entity will be bound. A human being is especially meant to attain liberation from the bondage of birth, death, old age and disease. He is therefore directed by the Vedic regulative principles to work in such a way that he may fulfill his desires for sense gratification and at the same time gradually become freed from material bondage. Action according to such principles is called knowledge. Indeed, the word veda means “knowledge.” The words jñānena na sa lipyate indicate that by following the Vedic principles, one does not become involved in the actions and reactions of his fruitive activities.
FAQs
This verse says that when a wise person performs regulated, prescribed work in the proper way, he is not tainted by that action because he acts with true knowledge and thus remains unbound.
Śukadeva instructs Parīkṣit on how a human being can live and act in the world—following dharma—yet avoid karmic entanglement, a key theme in the teachings surrounding the Purañjana allegory.
Do your responsibilities conscientiously and ethically, but with spiritual understanding—seeing yourself as the soul and offering the results to the Supreme—so work does not become a source of bondage.