Gita 04.20 – The more we give up material shelters, the more we seek spiritual shelter

Fighting in the war.

Thank you. Krishna is Bhagavad Gita 4.20 and Krishna is continuing his description of how one can act without being bound by karma and in that connection he speaks over here that giving up karma phala sangam phala sanga sanga is attachment phala is fruit so giving up attachment to the fruit of work nitya trupto being constantly satisfied nirashrayaha not taking shelter now this does not refer to no shelter of Krishna rather it refers not taking shelter of anything material or anyone material Krishna is not yet talked about himself elaborately and certainly he is not talking about himself as the goal of life although he has talked about his transcendental position as the giver of knowledge so he is not talking so much here about taking shelter of himself but rather of not taking shelter of anything material karmanya abhi pravrttopi which a person may do karma abhi pravrttopi according to one's pravrtti nature nahi vo kinchit karoti saha but it's as if that person is not doing anything at all kinchit karoti even slight action that person is not doing so again Krishna is in the in this verse emphasizing that it is the inner motivation not the outer action that determines the reaction and he says over here that karma phalasangam giving up so normally whenever we consider of tyaga we think of tyaga more in terms of physical renunciation not so much in terms of emotional renunciation so Krishna uses the word so physical renunciation means physically physically renouncing things okay person instead of living in a house decides to live in a jungle instead of living in a family lives alone instead of having a having a position say in a court as a king has a position just lives under a tree or something like that so normally we think of renunciation in physical terms but Krishna here is stating that renunciation is something much deeper and physical and it is a matter of consciousness it's a matter of one's emotional distancing and disentanglement so tattva karma phalasangam so if one is detached from the fruits of work and one is nitya trupto nirashrayaha your person is always satisfied nitya trupto and is nirashrayaha not seeking shelter in material things so Krishna in one sense what he has told tattva karma phalasangam what he has told in the first line in 4.20a he's elaborating 4.20b where he says nitya trupto nirashrayaha he said nitya trupto that means one who is always satisfied now how can one be one not have any attachment to the fruits of work that is possible when one is internally satisfied there are different kinds of motivations for work one is a work that is done to compensate for a sense of incompleteness oh I feel something is missing in my life maybe if I get a bigger house maybe I forget a newer car maybe if I get a more good-looking spouse then I'll be happy so this is the motivation for work these kind of motivations are there but when one is internally satisfied then one works not because one feels incomplete but one knows that active participation in the whole is the way of preserving one's completeness of maintaining one's satisfaction that I am a part of Krishna and by serving Krishna I'll be happy so it is not the fruits of the service that are important it is the principle of loving reciprocation with Krishna that is important and in that sense nitya trupto nirashrayaha nirashrayaha means one does not take shelter of the fruits of work it's not that one is imagining oh I'll become a champion and then the whole world will glorify me and it is for that glorification that I want to become I am going to work hard and I'm going to become a champion so that means one doesn't there if you see one we are taking shelter ashraya so when we feel the stress when we feel misery in life we take shelter of the fruits of work and hope that oh when I get the fruit then I will be happy and so we seek the fruit of the work but nirashrayaha so one is not seeking fulfillment one is not seeking shelter in the fruit of the work because this person knows that actually the fruit of the work is not what is going to give me shelter it is the realization of the self and the realization of relationship of the self with the Lord that is going to give me shelter and that realization is possible through unselfish work and that realization does not require the attainment of the fruit of the work Narshala Prabhupada wanted definitely to please the spiritual master and that's why he went to America in an advanced age but he did not it was not that his relationship with the spiritual master and his relationship with Krishna was underdeveloped of incomplete before he went and did some did the miraculous service and got this miraculous results that he caught now he was nitya trupto nirashrayaha people who met Shalaprabhupada when he was alone and penniless in New Delhi or in New York even there they found that he had a deep sense of satisfaction and cheerfulness that had the transcended his material poverty and obscurity poverty means he had nothing obscurity means he was unknown so in spite of the poverty and obscurity he was nitya trupto nirashrayaha because he was nitya trupto nirashrayaha because he was nitya trupto nirashrayaha because he was nitya trupto nirashrayaha because he was nitya trupto nirashrayaha because he was nitya trupto nirashrayaha At this stage krishna is sitting at a state of atma-dattwa At this stage Krishna is sitting at a stage of atma-dattwa ha. But essentially the principle underlying right now is that if one has not taken, one is not emotionally entangled in material things then even when one acts in the material world one will not be bound.

So karmanya abhi pravrttopi, even if one works it is as if naiva kinchit karotisah. It is as if the person is doing nothing. That means the person is not incurring any karmic reaction.

Thank you.