BG 02.49 durena hy avaram karma... cited

Expressions researched:
"Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers" |"buddhau saranam anviccha" |"buddhi-yogad dhananjaya" |"durena hy avaram karma" |"keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service" |"krpanah phala-hetavah"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "2.49" or "Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers" or "buddhau saranam anviccha" or "buddhi-yogad dhananjaya" or "durena hy avaram karma" or "keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service" or "krpanah phala-hetavah"

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 2.49, Translation and Purport:

O Dhanañjaya, keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service, and in that consciousness surrender unto the Lord. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.

One who has actually come to understand one's constitutional position as an eternal servitor of the Lord gives up all engagements save working in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As already explained, buddhi-yoga means transcendental loving service to the Lord. Such devotional service is the right course of action for the living entity. Only misers desire to enjoy the fruit of their own work just to be further entangled in material bondage. Except for work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all activities are abominable because they continually bind the worker to the cycle of birth and death. One should therefore never desire to be the cause of work. Everything should be done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Misers do not know how to utilize the assets of riches which they acquire by good fortune or by hard labor. One should spend all energies working in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that will make one's life successful. Like misers, unfortunate persons do not employ their human energy in the service of the Lord.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.46-62 -- Los Angeles, December 16, 1968:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: 49: "O Dhanañjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers (BG 2.49)." 50: "A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions (BG 2.50)."

Prabhupāda: Now here it is... One significant word is there. One who wants to enjoy the result of his work, he is miser. He is miser. What is the opposite word of miser? Huh? What is the opposite word?

Viṣṇujana: Philanthropic?

Prabhupāda: Liberal, is it not? So those who are in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they are liberal. And those who are acting for his own benefit, they are miser. They are mahātmās who are working for Kṛṣṇa. That is also stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, mahātmā. Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ (BG 9.13).

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

The idea is that anyone who is doing everything for the sake of the Lord, he is freed from the reaction, but anyone who is doing anything on his own account, he is being entangled in that action and reaction. So that is the technique of becoming yoga-sthaḥ. Yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi.

In the next śloka, in next śloka, it is very clearly explained that

dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma

buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya

buddhau śaraṇam anviccha

kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ

(BG 2.49)

Kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. Now, here is... The word kṛpaṇa is very significant. Kṛpaṇa. There are two classes of men. The kṛpaṇa means miser, kṛpaṇa, miser. And just the opposite word of kṛpaṇa is brāhmaṇa. I have already explained to you sometimes that brāhmaṇa... Brāhmaṇa means who knows that "I am not this body; I am the... I am the... I am in spirit, conscious. I am soul, spirit, consciousness," one who knows perfectly well this understanding and the science also, that "I am qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord," ahaṁ brahmāsmi. The Vedic mantra says, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. That means "I am Brahman. I am not this matter. I am Brahman." So one who knows this science, he is called brāhmaṇa.

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

Spiritual body means your freedom life. We do not know; we have no conception that in our spiritual body how much we can be powerful. We do not know that. There is calculation. There is calculation that suppose God is cent percent perfect. So when you get your spiritual body, you may not be as powerful as God, but almost near to God. You get seventy-eight percent. You get seventy-eight percent of the whole power. That is a calculation by the great sages. They have calculated that a living entity can attain to the perfection of seventy-eight percent. Now, in our present material condition we have no spiritual power at all. We are always encumbered and conditioned by material forces. You see? So therefore one who does not utilize this body for perfection, for liberation, he is called kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa. This is stated here. Kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. Kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. That kṛpaṇa, that means miserly person who does not utilize this human form of life for better profit. Then he wants that "Oh, I have done so much. I must get the profit. I must get it." What profit you get? For the bodily enjoyment? For sense enjoyment? Oh, sacrifice it. Sacrifice it. You know that there is a word, yajña, sacrifice. Sacrifice means—it is a common word—that you dedicate, you dedicate your life for the service of the Lord, this life. You'll not be sufferer.

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

Whatever in situation, position you are by God's will you are put in, that doesn't matter. Your work is not bad, provided you work for the Supreme Lord. That's all. That is the technique.

So dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma. Here it is emphatically emphasized that dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya: "By application of this God consciousness, you throw away all other work. Any work which you cannot do with God consciousness, don't do it." Now, here is the injunction in Bhagavad-gītā that "Anything which you cannot do with God consciousness, stop doing." But the whole world is engaged, doing things in which there is no God consciousness. There is no God consciousness. And here it is enjoined that buddhau śaraṇam anviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ: "Only those who are kṛpaṇa, those who are not self-realized, they are hankering after sense gratification. They want to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But you don't be. Arjuna, you don't be. If you want to be spiritually situated, if you want to work from the spiritual platform, then you don't do it. You work on the spiritual platform and don't do anything which you cannot do in God consciousness." This is clearly stated here.

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

As spirit soul, I am also part and parcel of God. And we are thinking independently that "I have no connection with God." This is very horrible condition. The whole world is suffering because this misconception of life, misconception of life, that he has forgotten his eternal relationship with God. So we have to revive it. We have to revive it, this process. The Bhagavad-gītā has prescribed,

dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma

buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya

buddhau śaraṇam anviccha

kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ

Kṛpaṇāḥ means those who are anxious for enjoying sense gratification, by the fruits of their labor. They are called kṛpaṇa. And those who have sacrificed the whole body, whole intelligence... Sacrifice... You always remember: what we can sacrifice? Just like we take Ganges water from Ganges and offering Ganges, so everything is obtained from God, and now, if we offer the same thing to God, then we become liberated. Actually I am not proprietor in anything. Myself is also not... I am also the part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. These are the conception. Without this conception, without this God conception, there is no spiritual realization and there is no happiness, either personally, or impersonally, or socially, or economically or politically. There cannot be.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

The Kṛṣṇa philosophy in different ways all over the world, they have been described according to the time, place and people, but you must know the whole thing is Kṛṣṇa philosophy. Kṛṣṇa philosophy is... When we speak of Kṛṣṇa, you don't take this word, Sanskrit word, Kṛṣṇa, in a sectarian meaning. Kṛṣṇa means the Supreme, the highest pleasure, highest pleasure.

So now, yoga-sthaḥ. In the previous verse we have been advised to work, continue work, being situated in yoga. And in the next śloka Lord Kṛṣṇa says,

dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma

buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya

buddhau śaraṇam anviccha

kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ

(BG 2.49)

Dūreṇa. Dūreṇa: "By force..." Just like unwanted things which we don't like, we throw it aside. Suppose something is given to me in my, during my dinner which I don't like... Sometimes we throw it, "Oh, I don't want it." You see? So similarly, our discrimination... "Discrimination is the best part of valor." Simply we have to learn how to discriminate whether we are working on material platform or on the spiritual platform. That's all. Just like Arjuna. Arjuna was being advised to work on the spiritual platform. That's all. The whole instruction of Bhagavad-gītā is based on this principle, that Arjuna was perplexed with material thoughts. And Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to pose him, or to place him in the spiritual platform. That's all. So now, from Arjuna's activity, you can understand that what is spiritual platform and what is material platform.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

Spiritual life does not mean that we have to change something of these activities which we are, already we are engaged, or our form of the body will change to something extraordinary. Nothing. The same body, the same feature, the same activity, same engagement—everything same. But we have to know the art, "Whether these activities are being done from the spiritual platform or from the material platform?" If we can discriminate in that way, as Lord Kṛṣṇa advises to Arjuna, dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya: "O Dhanañjaya..." Dhanañjaya is another name of Arjuna. "My dear Dhanañjaya, buddhi-yogāt, by your intelligence..." And as we have explained, buddhi-yoga means devotional service to the Lord. So on the criterion of buddhi-yoga, on the criterion of devotional service to the Lord, you have to do everything. That is the, I mean to say, technique. That is the technique. Dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogāt, buddhi-yogāt. You have to use your intelligence, "Whether I am doing this on the platform of pure consciousness or on the platform of this body?"

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

Even if you do not know any practical work, simply you give your reception, aural reception, submissive aural reception, and understand that what is the nature of God, what is the nature of our self, what is the relation between God and myself, what is this world, what is my relation with this world, so many things, simply if you hear and have an idea, then, even then, you'll be free from this material bondage. Tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti kaunteya (BG 4.9).

Therefore, as Lord Kṛṣṇa says that,

dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma

buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya

buddhau śaraṇam anviccha

kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ

(BG 2.49)

"Don't be miser. Don't be miser." Miser... We have already explained in our last meeting what is the miser and what is a brāhmaṇa. The opposite word is brāhmaṇa. Miser means this valuable body, who does not properly utilize it; simply they utilize this body for sense gratification and nothing more. They are kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa means miser. Miser, who does not utilize the asset given to him, he's a miser. Miser. He's not liberal. One should be liberal.

Lecture on BG 2.49-51 -- New York, April 5, 1966:

So Cāṇakya Paṇḍita says that sannimitte varaṁ tyāga. You have to give up this body. Why don't you give it up for the highest cause? Highest cause. This is the highest cause, spiritual realization. Somebody's offering his body for country's cause. Somebody's offering body for the society's cause. Or somebody's offering body for theft case or some murdering case. We have, everyone has to offer his body at the end. But the man who sacrifices this body for the purpose of self-realization, he's the most intelligent man. Sannimitte varaṁ tyāga vināśe niyate sati. You'll have to meet death, undoubtedly, but before meeting death... (break)

...as fully spiritualized. This is the instruction given. Buddhau śaraṇam anviccha kṛpaṇāḥ: "Don't be miser. Don't misuse this great opportunity."

buddhi-yukto jahātīha

ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte

tasmād yogāya yujyasva

yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam

(BG 2.50)

Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam. Kauśalam means expert trick, expert trick. Just like there are two men working. One man is very expert; another man is not so expert. Even in machinery. There is something wrong in the machine. The, the man who is not very expert, he's trying whole day-night, how to adjust it, but the expert comes and at once sees what is the defect, and he joins one wire, this way and that way, and machine becomes start. Hrzum, hrzum, hrzum, hrzum, hrzum, hrzum. You see? Just like sometimes we, we find difficulty in our, this tape recorder, and Mr. Carl or somebody comes and rectifies this. So everything requires some expert knowledge. So karma, karma means work. We have to work.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.9.49 -- Mayapura, June 15, 1973:

Because we are making brāhmaṇas from the mlecchas' and yavanas' section, they are protesting. Some of them are protesting that "Swami Bhaktivedanta is ruining Hindu religion." The rascals, they do not know that I am acting strictly according to śāstra. The śāstras says... Kṛṣṇa says Himself, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ: (BG 9.32) "Anyone born in low-grade family.' Pāpa-yoni, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya, "if he takes to Me according to regulative principles," vyapāśritya, "according to the principle," te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, "he is immediately becomes eligible to be promoted," parāṁ gatim, "the highest perfection of life." One thing is pāpa-yoni. So there is no restriction that pāpa-yoni shall remain always pāpa-yoni. Why? They should be given enlightenment. That is brāhmaṇa-ism. Brāhmaṇa means liberal, and just the opposite word of brāhmaṇa is kṛpaṇa, miser. A brāhmaṇa should give chance to everyone, even to the pāpa-yoni, how to become brāhmaṇa. That is real brāhmaṇa. And the rascal who thinks that "I shall remain simply brāhmaṇa; others shall remain mlecchas and yavanas," he is not brāhmaṇa; he is śūdra, because his mind is so crippled. He does not want to see others to become brāhmaṇa. He is miser, kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇaḥ phala-hetavaḥ.

So our this movement is not for the kṛpaṇas. It is meant for the brāhmaṇas.

Lecture on SB 6.1.24 -- Chicago, July 8, 1975:

So brāhmaṇa and... Brāhmaṇas, I have already explained, that brāhmaṇa's business is dāna-pratigraha. He will collect. Brāhmaṇa has the right to collect from his disciples. Spiritual master. But he will distribute it. Dāna-pratigraha. He will be also a man charitably disposed, spending that money for public welfare, for Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇa, this word, is used, kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. The kṛpaṇas, they are simply trying to get some benefit. Another word is used:

yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ

kaṇḍūyanena karayor iva duḥkha-duḥkham

tṛpyanti neha kṛpaṇā bahu-duḥkha-bhājaḥ

kaṇḍūtivan manasijaṁ viṣaheta dhīraḥ

(SB 7.9.45)

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Conversation with Bajaj and Bhusan -- September 11, 1972, Arlington, Texas, At Their Home:

Guest (2): Does it mean that we should leave the work and we should not work and...

Prabhupāda: No. That I have explained. You work for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. That is called "Don't see to the result." Kṛpaṇa, kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. Kṛpaṇa. There are two classes of men. One is kṛpaṇa, and one is brāhmaṇa. Kṛpaṇa, they want his sense satisfaction, and brāhmaṇa, they want Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction. Satisfaction must be there but when you want your satisfaction, that is kṛpaṇa. Kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. He wants to enjoy the result. That is the whole world. Material world means everyone wants his sense satisfaction, but the same way, when you'll satisfy Kṛṣṇa's senses, then you become brāhmaṇa or Vaiṣṇava. The result must be there. If you work, there must be some result, bad or good. But if you want to enjoy, yourself, then you are kṛpaṇa. And if the result is enjoyed by Kṛṣṇa, then you are brāhmaṇa. Result must be there. Any work you do, there must be some result, and that is also described in the... Yajñārthāt karma. Yajña means Viṣṇu. For His sake one should work. Yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ (BG 3.9). If you work not for yajña, for your sense gratification, then you become bound up by the result of the karma, good or bad. So if we work for Kṛṣṇa, if the result is given to Kṛṣṇa, that is our perfection. Otherwise, kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ—we remain kṛpaṇa.