karma-niṣṭhā dvijāḥ kecit

The Detached Householder

|| 7.15.1 ||

śrī-nārada uvāca

karma-niṣṭhā dvijāḥ kecit

tapo-niṣṭhā nṛpāpare

svādhyāye ’nye pravacane

kecana jñāna-yogayoḥ

Some brāhmaṇas are devoted to performing rituals and duties. Some are devoted to austerity. Some are devoted to studying and preaching the Vedas. Some are devoted to jñāna-yoga.

The Fifteenth Chapter describes all the rules for the householder, and ends with a summary. In the previous chapter the superiority of the brāhmaṇa was described. Among the brāhmaṇas there are gradations. The householder fixed in karma is a vipra. When he is fixed in austerity he is a vanaprastha. When he is fixed in study and teaching he is a brahmacārī. When he is fixed in jñāna-yoga he is a sannyāsī. The word niṣṭhā should be understood to be included with each phrase. The latter are superior to the former in the list.

 

|| 7.15.2 ||

jñāna-niṣṭhāya deyāni

kavyāny ānantyam icchatā

daive ca tad-abhāve syād

itarebhyo yathārhataḥ

A person desiring liberation for his forefathers or himself should give offerings meant for the Pitṛs or the devatās to a brāhmaṇa who is fixed in jñāna. In the absence of such an advanced brāhmaṇa, charity may be given to other brāhmaṇas.

Kavyāni refers to offerings meant for the Pitṛs.  Daive refers to offerings meant for the devatās. Those articles should be offered to a brāhmaṇa fixed in jñāna in order to achieve liberation for oneself or one’s ancestors. It is mentioned here that the householders desiring liberation should serve the sannyāsīs, because the subject of liberation is also included in these last five chapters. Though those practicing pure bhakti should not perform karma, the devotees who are householders are included when discussing about karma and jñāna. However, by performing these actions of karma through appointed representatives, just as Bharata or Ambarīṣa did to preserve the normal social standards, they do not produce obstacles to bhakti.  

 

The Fifth and Eleventh Cantos explain that just as the person desiring liberation worships mainly the jñānī, and does not worship others, so the person desiring prema worships mainly the pure devotees. Vai puṇyatamo deśaḥ: the best place is where the devotee resides. (SB 7.14.21) The devotee is said to be superior to the jñānī:

muktānām api siddhānāṁ nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇaḥ

su-durlabhaḥ praśāntātmā koṭiṣv api mahā-mune

 

O great sage! Greater than those who are jīvanmukta and those who attain liberation is the devotee of Lord Nārāyaṇa. Such as devotee, who is in śānta or another rasa, is very rare, even among ten million people. SB 6.14.5

 

It is also said that gifts can be given to someone other than a brāhmaṇa if he is a devotee:

 

na me priyaś catur-vedi mad-bhaktaḥ śvapacaḥ priyaḥ

tasmai deyaṁ tato grāhyaṁ sa ca pūjyo yathā hy aham

 

If a brāhmaṇa, well-versed in the four Vedas is not a devotee, he is not dear to me, but if a person, though born in a Caṇḍāla family, is a devotee, then he is very dear to me. His remnants must be accepted by all. One should know him to be worthy of everyone’s worship just as I am. Itihāsa-samuccaya

Immature persons (kaniṣṭādhikāris) or the jñānīs are recommended to worship the deity when enmity between living entities becomes prominent, as mentioned in the previous chapter.

 

dṛṣṭvā teṣāṁ mitho nṛṇām avajñānātmatāṁ nṛpa

tretādiṣu harer arcā kriyāyai kavibhiḥ kṛtā

 

My dear King, when great sages saw that people were disrespectful of each other at the beginning of Tretā-yuga, deity worship in the temple was introduced. SB 7.14.39

This statement however does not apply to the devotees. For the devotees, worship of the deity is a principal aṅga of bhakti.

 

mal-liṅga-mad-bhakta-jana- darśana-sparśanārcanam

paricaryā stutiḥ prahva-guṇa-karmānukīrtanam

 

One may purify oneself by seeing, touching, worshiping, serving, and offering prayers of glorification and obeisances to my form as the deity and to my pure devotees. One should also glorify my transcendental qualities and activities, hear with love and faith the narrations of my glories and constantly meditate on me. SB 11.11.34

 

mamārcā-sthāpane śraddhā svataḥ saṁhatya codyamaḥ

 

One should faithfully and lovingly support the installation of my deity. SB 11.11.38

 

vastropavītābharaṇa-patra-srag-gandha-lepanaiḥ

alaṅkurvīta sa-prema mad-bhakto māṁ yathocitam

 

My devotee should then lovingly decorate me with clothing, a brāhmaṇa thread, various ornaments, marks of tilaka and garlands, and he should anoint my body with fragrant oils, all in the prescribed manner. SB 11.27.32

 

Those who are considered foolish in regards to the deity are the jñānīs. In the Nṛsiṁha Purāṇa also the great glory of worshipping the deity is mentioned, with descriptions of worship by Brahmā and Ambarīṣa. In the Viṣṇu-dharma was as well Viṣṇu speaks to Ambarīṣa:

 

tasyāṁ cittaṁ samāveśya tyajatānyān vyapāśrayān

pūjitā saiva te bhaktyā dhyātā caivopakāriṇī

gacchaṁs tiṣṭhan svapan bhuñjaṁs tām evāgre ca pṛṣṭhataḥ

upary adhas tathā pārśve cintayaṁs tām athātmanaḥ

 

Absorbing the mind in the deity, and giving up all else, one should with devotion worship the deity, one’s benefactor, and meditate on the deity. While walking, standing, sleeping or eating, one should think of the Lord in front, behind, above, below and at one’s side.

 

Skanda Purāṇa says śālagrāmaśilā yatra tattīrthaṁ yojanatrayam: the place extending three yojanas around the śālagrāma is holy. Padma Purāṇa says:

 

śālagrāma samīpe tu krośa-mātraṁ samantataḥ

kīkaṭe ’pi mṛto yāti vaikuṇṭha-bhavanaṁ naraḥ

 

The person who dies near a śālagrāma or a distance of a krośa from it, even in Kīkata, goes to Vaikuṇṭha.

 

|| 7.15.3 ||