SB 10.24.18 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

तस्मात्सम्पूजयेत्कर्म स्वभावस्थ: स्वकर्मकृत् अञ्जसा येन वर्तेत तदेवास्य हि दैवतम् ॥ १८ ॥

Verse text

tasmāt sampūjayet karma svabhāva-sthaḥ sva-karma-kṛt anjasā yena varteta tad evāsya hi daivatam

Synonyms

tasmāt — therefore ; sampūjayet — one should fully worship ; karma — his prescribed activity ; svabhāva — in the position corresponding to his own conditioned nature ; sthaḥ — remaining ; sva — karma — his own prescribed duty ; kṛt — performing ; aṣjasā — without difficulty ; yena — by which ; varteta — one lives ; tat — that ; eva — certainly ; asya — his ; hi — indeed ; daivatam — worshipable deity .

Translation

Therefore one should seriously worship work itself. A person should remain in the position corresponding to his nature and should perform his own duty. Indeed, that by which we may live nicely is really our worshipable deity.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Therefore one should seriously worship work itself. A person should remain in the position corresponding to his nature and should perform his own duty. Indeed, that by which we may live nicely is really our worshipable deity. KB 10.24.18 “One should be careful to discharge duties according to his natural instinct and not divert attention to the worship of various demigods. The demigods will be satisfied by proper execution of all duties, so there is no need to worship them. Let us, rather, perform our prescribed duties very nicely.

Purport

Lord Kṛṣṇa here proposes the modern if absurd philosophy that our work or occupation is really God and that we should therefore simply worship our work. Upon close scrutiny, we observe that our work is nothing more than the interaction of the material body with material nature, as Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself states in a more serious mood, in the Bhagavad-gītā (3.28) : guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta. Karma-mīmāṁsā philosophy accepts that good activity in this life will give us a better next life. If this is true, there must be some type of conscious soul different from the body. And if that is the case, why should a transcendental soul worship the interaction of the temporary body with material nature? If the words sampūjayet karma here mean that one should worship the laws of karma governing our activities, then one may astutely ask what it means to worship laws and, indeed, what might be the origin of such laws and who is maintaining them. To say that laws have created or are maintaining the world is a meaningless proposition, since there is nothing about the nature of a law that indicates it could generate the existential situation it is supposed to govern. In fact, worship is meant for Kṛṣṇa Himself, and this real conclusion will be clearly revealed in this chapter.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Karma should be respected (sampujayet). Though karma in general should be respected, karma as the cause is also proved through scripture. Those situated in their varna such as brahmanas, perform actions according to that varna (svakarmakam). "But how can there be success of a sacrifice where ingredients are offered to the devatas without accepting the devatas?" "The devatas are only karmanga, secondary assistants to the karma itself, according to the philosophy of hetuvad (causality). In this way the devatas are reconciled. Karma, by which we live happily, is our deity."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Since action is the teacher and the controller (tasmāt), fixed in one’s nature, by such impressions in one’s nature, action is produced spontaneously (sva). From that perspective, one should worship action. Or since one’s nature is simply the initiator of actions, karma alone can be said to be the giver of results. Therefore, even if by some fault some other unsuitable thoughts enter the brāhmaṇa or others, one should with effort remain fixed in one’s nature, in one’s suitable thoughts and perform one’s suitable actions and worship that action which is one’s sustenance. One should not worship the devatās. This is explained next. One should perform action because (hi) that which allows one to live comfortably is one’s (asya) deity.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Since action is the teacher and the controller (tasmāt), by impressions in one’s nature, action is produced spontaneously (sva). This firmly rejects the inspiration of antaryāmī. Or one becomes absorbed in action in order to accomplish. Or absorb yourself in action in order to create the impressions or nature. “Karma should be worshipped according to previous impressions (svabhāva). Why should there be a rule to worship karma?” Thinking that everything is caused by action, one should perform one’s action (sva-karma-kṛt) (and that will situate a person in his svabhāva). By absorption in something else results cannot be achieved, because the action is incomplete. Action is necessary. (That is the worship). Or doing one’s actions according to one’s nature according to guṇas, one should simply worship action, not devatās controlling one’s nature. Or by rejecting going beyond one’s nature and attempting to learn someone else’s duties (svabhāva-sthaḥ) worship of work is shown to be superior to worship of devatās. Being situated in one’s nature and performing one’s duty is real worship. Or one should worship work because one is dependent on impressions (saṁskāras) and saṁskāras arise from actions or duties. Then one can enjoy the results of action (sva-karma-kṛt). That worship which allows one to live is proper. Therefore it is then said that one should perform action because (hi) that which allows one to live comfortably is one’s (asya) deity.