|| The fruits of worship { with and without motive } || Those who perform action with some interested motive as laid down in these three Vedas and drink the sap of the Soma plant , and have thus been purged of sin , worshiping Me through sacrifices , seek access to heaven ; attaining Indras { king of gods } paradise as the result of their virtuous deeds , they enjoy the celestial pleasures of gods in heaven { 9 / 20 } . O Arjuna , the Vedic scholars worship Me with sacrifices according to their stage of life and provide the standard of performing them . The Vedas nod with approval at the sacrificial rites performed by them ; and the fruit of such rites presents itself before them . Such sacrifice-rs who drinks Soma become themselves sacrifice incarnate ; but know that they have accumulated sin , falsely known as merit . Because , after studying the three Vedas and performing hundreds of sacrifices , they prefer heaven to Me , who am the goal of such sacrifices . This is like the unlucky person who sits under a wish - fulfilling tree and knotting his cloth into wallet , goes out begging in penury . If after offering Me hundred sacrifices they long for heaven , how can you call it merit ? It is sin and nothing else . To attain heaven without Me is the meritorious path for the ignorant . The wise , however , regard it as an impediment , leading to a fall . Heavenly life , no doubt , is reckoned as full of happiness , when compared with life in hell , but everlasting and faultless bliss ensues only from Me . On the way to My abode , O great warrior , there are two by - paths of waylayers which lead to heaven and hell . One leads to heaven through sin mixed with merit and the other leads to hell through unmixed sin . But pure merit alone brings the embodied Self to Me . How is it that the tongue does not fall , which praises any action as meritorious even when it leads men astray from My Divine nature , though they are rooted in it ? But enough of this , I shall now turn to the main theme . In this way , these sacrifice-rs worship Me seeking celestial pleasures . Then on the strength of rituals which do not lead to Me , and which are , therefore , sinful , they go to heaven where they have immortality as their throne , the elephant Airavata to ride upon and the metropolis of Amaravati to dwell in . There they have treasures of occult powers , cellars of nectar and cow - pens containing herds of wish - yielding cows , where deities stand in attendance upon them and , where the roads are paved with philosophers stones , where the pleasure gardens abound in wish - yielding trees , where the Gandharvas {musicians } sing , celestial dancers like Rambha dance and divine nymphs like Urvashi attend on their pleasure , where the God of love serves them in their bed - chamber , the moon sprinkles water in the courtyard and they have messengers as swift as the wind , where there are priests like Brihaspati { Teacher od gods } as their house - priests to give blessings , and many gods as bards , where stand in a row guardians of the world and where there are expert cavaliers and the caparisoned horse , Uchchaishravas . The sacrifice-rs in this way enjoy the highest pleasures as of Indra . This enjoyment , however , lasts so long as they have a little merit left to their credit . Having enjoyed the extensive heaven - world , they return to this world of mortals on the stock of their merits being exhausted . Thus devoted to the ritual with interested motive , recommended by the three Vedas as the means of attaining heavenly bliss , and seeking worldly enjoyments , they repeatedly come and go { i.e. , ascend to heaven by virtue of their merits and return to earth when their fruit has been enjoyed } [ 9 / 21 ] . No sooner is their merit exhausted , their heavenly joy comes to an end and they start coming back to the mortal world . When a person has squandered his last penny on a whore , he is not permitted by her even to tap her door . Such indeed is the pitiable plight of these sacrifice-rs . Thus those who craved for heavenly enjoyments were lost to Me , who am eternal bliss . Their ascent to the immortal world becomes fruitless , as they have to return to the mortal world in the end . Born and baked in the mothers wombs full of muck for a period of nine months , they are born over and over again and die . As one gains a treasure in a dream , which vanishes when he wakes up , so ephemeral is the heavenly joy of these sacrifice-rs . O Arjuna , even a master of the Vedic lore lives an empty life like the chaff which is hollow and without the grain . So all these rites prescribed by the three Vedas are utterly worthless without Me . Even if you know naught but Me , you will enjoy eternal bliss . The devotees , however , who loving no one else constantly think of Me , and worship Me in a disinterested spirit , to those ever united in thought with Me , I bring full security and personally attend to their needs { 9 / 22 } . There are others , however , who dedicate their heart and soul to Me , without stirring into action like the fetus in the womb . They do not hold anything dearer than Me and they have dedicated their whole life to Me . those who remember Me with such exclusive devotion and worship , I too become their willing servant . When they begin to follow My path of devotion , it becomes incumbent upon Me to care for them and to perform the tasks which they wish to be done . Just as a bird - mother lives to take care of its chicks without wings , or a mother exerts herself for the sake of the child unmindful of her comfort , so I provide for those who have devoted their lives to Me . If they crave for union with Me , I fulfill their desire ; and if they wish to serve Me , I vouchsafe to them deep love for Me . In this way I provide for them whatever they desire and also preserve for them whatever they have got . As regards those who have taken refuge in Me , their well - being becomes My chief concern . Arjuna , even those devotees who , endowed with faith , worship other gods { with some interested motive } worship Me alone , though with a mistaken approach { 9 / 23 } . But there are others , who without realizing My all - pervading nature , offer sacrifices to deities such as fire , Indra , sun and the moon according to their tradition . These sacrifices ultimately come to Me , since I am this entire universe . But their worship is not straight forward , but devious . The branches and leaves all spring from one and the same seed ; but the tree has to be watered at the root , which alone can suck the water . All the ten senses belong to the same body , and all the sensations they receive go to one and same point { the mind } . How would it do , if we were to stuff delicious food into the ears or tie food on to the eye - nay , it is for the mouth to relish the food and for the nose to smell fragrance , and so I must be worshiped in My own being . Else whatever worship is done without knowing Me becomes fruitless ; and therefore , only action backed by knowledge becomes flawless . For , I am the enjoy-er and also the Lord of all sacrifices ; but they who do not know Me in reality as the Supreme Deity , they fall i.e., return to life on earth { 9 / 24 } . Moreover , know that none but Me , is the enjoy-er of all these sacrificial offerings made to the deities . I am the origin and the end of all sacrifices ; but not knowing this , these benighted persons worship deities . The holy water of the Ganges { river goddess } offered to the gods and forefathers has to be offered in the Ganges alone . So they offer to Me whatever is mine , but in a different way . They therefore , do not , O Partha , attain to Me at all , and go to the deities in whom they have placed their faith . Those who are votaries of gods , go to gods , those who are votaries of manes , reach the manes ; those who adore the spirits , reach the spirits and those who worship Me , come to Me alone . That is why My devotees are no longer subject to birth and death { 9 / 25 } . || OM TAT SAT ||
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 20:59:06 +0000
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