Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 6 Chapter 16 Verse 11

Canto 6: Prescribed Duties for Mankind | Chapter 16: King Citraketu Meets the Supreme Lord

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.16.11

nādatta ātmā hi guṇaḿ

na doṣaḿ na kriyā-phalam

udāsīnavad āsīnaḥ

parāvara-dṛg īśvaraḥ

SYNONYMS

na — not; ādatte — accepts; ātmā — the Supreme Lord; hi — indeed; guṇam — happiness; na — not; doṣam — unhappiness; na — nor; kriyā-phalam — the result of any fruitive activity; udāsīna-vat — exactly like a neutral man; āsīnaḥ — sitting (in the core of the heart); para-avara-dṛk — seeing the cause and effect; īśvaraḥ — the Supreme Lord.

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Lord [ātmā], the creator of cause and effect, does not accept the happiness and distress that result from fruitive actions. He is completely independent of having to accept a material body, and because He has no material body, He is always neutral. The living entities, being part and parcel of the Lord, possess His qualities in a minute quantity. Therefore one should not be affected by lamentation.

PURPORT

The conditioned soul has friends and enemies. He is affected by the good qualities and the faults of his position. The Supreme Lord, however, is always transcendental. Because He is the īśvara, the supreme controller, He is not affected by duality. It may therefore be said that He sits in the core of everyone's heart as the neutral witness of the causes and effects of one's activities, good and bad. We should also understand that udāsīna, neutral, does not mean that He takes no action. Rather, it means that He is not personally affected. For example, a court judge is neutral when two opposing parties appear before him, but he still takes action as the case warrants. To become completely neutral, indifferent, to material activities, we should simply seek shelter at the lotus feet of the supreme neutral person.

Mahārāja Citraketu was advised that remaining neutral in such trying circumstances as the death of one's son is impossible. Nevertheless, since the Lord knows how to adjust everything, the best course is to depend upon Him and do one's duty in devotional service to the Lord. In all circumstances, one should be undisturbed by duality. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.47):

karmaṇy evādhikāras te

mā phaleṣu kadācana

mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr

mā te sańgo 'stv akarmaṇi

"You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty." One should execute one's devotional duty, and for the results of one's actions one should depend upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness