Please accept my respectful obeisances,
I read Bhagavad-gita As It Is 3.8: "Perform your prescribed duty, for doing so is better than not working. One cannot even maintain one's physical body without work." The following question came to my mind: Is it true that by doing one's job sincerely one gets purified of material impurities?
Sunil |
When reading scripture one must always read the verses in context in order to get the proper meaning. If you had carefully considered verse 9, you would have had a clear understanding of verse 8. In verse 9 it is stated:
"Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain free from bondage."
Offering the fruit of your work to Vishnu or Krishna is the only way to become pure. If you do not do this as devotional service to the Lord, there is no way you will become free from impurities simply by sincerely working a job.
If doing one's job sincerely rids one of all material impurities, practically the entire world would be Krishna conscious. There would be no crime, no terrorism, no wars, no cow killing, and no baby killing, and the entire planet earth would be transformed into heaven on earth. Because the world situation is quite the opposite, we can easily understand that one does not become free from all impurities simply by doing one's job sincerely.
Only if one engages in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead can he become completely free from the dirt in the heart for properly understanding Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita 18.55 as follows:
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti
yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ
tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā
viśate tad-anantaram
"One can understand Me as I am, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of Me by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.
In conclusion, working sincerely for material sense gratification does not purify the heart. Rather it further contaminates the heart.
Sankarshan Das Adhikari |
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