Devanagari
केचित्कर्म वदन्त्येनं स्वभावमपरे नृप ।
एके कालं परे दैवं पुंस: काममुतापरे ॥ २२ ॥
Verse text
kecit karma vadanty enaṁ
svabhāvam apare nṛpa
eke kālaṁ pare daivaṁ
puṁsaḥ kāmam utāpare
Synonyms
kecit
—
some
;
karma
—
fruitive activities
;
vadanti
—
explain
;
enam
—
that
;
svabhāvam
—
nature
;
apare
—
others
;
nṛpa
—
my dear King Dhruva
;
eke
—
some
;
kālam
—
time
;
pare
—
others
;
daivam
—
fate
;
puṁsaḥ
—
of the living entity
;
kāmam
—
desire
;
uta
—
also
;
apare
—
others .
Translation
The differentiation among varieties of life and their suffering and enjoyment is explained by some to be the result of karma. Others say it is due to nature, others due to time, others due to fate, and still others say that it is due to desire.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Some say it is karma, some say it is the nature of matter, some say it is time, some say it is planets and some say it is lust.
Let karma be the cause of happiness and distress, birth and death! True, but philosophers argue about his. Some, Lokāyatas, followers of Cārvāka, say that it is nature of matter itself. Others the Vyavahārikas, followers of the Purāṇas, say it is time. Astrologers say it is the devatās in the form of planets (daivam). Others like Vātsyāyana say it is lust. Śruti says kāmo ’kārṣīt kāmaḥ karoti kāmaḥ kartā kāmaḥ kārayitā: lust has done it, lust is doing it, lust is the doer, lust causes us to act. (Mahā-nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad)
Purport
There are different types of philosophers —
mīmāṁsakas,
atheists, astronomers, sexualists and so many other classifications of mental speculators. The real conclusion is that it is our work only that binds us within this material world in different varieties of life. How these varieties have sprung up is explained in the
Vedas:
it is due to the desire of the living entity. The living entity is not a dead stone; he has different varieties of desire, or
kāma.
The
Vedas
say,
kāmo ’karṣīt.
The living entities are originally parts of the Lord, like sparks of a fire, but they have dropped to this material world, attracted by a desire to lord it over nature. That is a fact. Every living entity is trying to lord it over the material resources to the best of his ability.
This
kāma,
or desire, cannot be annihilated. There are some philosophers who say that if one gives up his desires, he again becomes liberated. But it is not at all possible to give up desire, for desire is a symptom of the living entity. If there were no desire, then the living entity would be a dead stone. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, therefore, advises that one turn his desire towards serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Then desire becomes purified. And when one’s desires are purified, one becomes liberated from all material contamination. The conclusion is that the different philosophers’ theories to explain the varieties of life and their pleasure and pain are all imperfect. The real explanation is that we are eternal servants of God and that as soon as we forget this relationship we are thrown into the material world, where we create our different activities and suffer or enjoy the result. We are drawn into this material world by desire, but the same desire must be purified and employed in the devotional service of the Lord. Then our disease of wandering in the universe under different forms and conditions will end.