The Vedas deal with three departments of activities. One is called karma-kāṇḍa, or activities under Vedic injunction, which gradually purify one to understand his real position; the next is jñāna-kāṇḍa, the process of understanding the Absolute Truth by speculative methods; and the third is upāsanā-kāṇḍa, or worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and sometimes of the demigods also. The worship of the demigods recommended in the Vedas is ordered with the understanding of the demigods' relationship to the Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has many parts and parcels; some are called svāṁśas, or His personal expansions, and some are called vibhinnāṁśas, the living entities. All such expansions, both svāṁśas and vibhinnāṁśas, are emanations from the original Personality of Godhead.
Called karma-kanda
Bhagavad-gita As It Is
BG Chapters 1 - 6
The purpose of all sacrifices is to arrive at the status of complete knowledge, then to gain release from material miseries, and, ultimately, to engage in loving transcendental service to the Supreme Lord (Kṛṣṇa consciousness). Nonetheless, there is a mystery about all these different activities of sacrifice, and one should know this mystery. Sacrifices sometimes take different forms according to the particular faith of the performer. When one's faith reaches the stage of transcendental knowledge, the performer of sacrifices should be considered more advanced than those who simply sacrifice material possessions without such knowledge, for without attainment of knowledge, sacrifices remain on the material platform and bestow no spiritual benefit. Real knowledge culminates in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the highest stage of transcendental knowledge. Without the elevation of knowledge, sacrifices are simply material activities. When, however, they are elevated to the level of transcendental knowledge, all such activities enter onto the spiritual platform. Depending on differences in consciousness, sacrificial activities are sometimes called karma-kāṇḍa (fruitive activities) and sometimes jñāna-kāṇḍa (knowledge in the pursuit of truth). It is better when the end is knowledge.
Other Books by Srila Prabhupada
Nectar of Instruction
When we refer to the urge to speak, we refer to useless talking, such as that of the impersonal Māyāvādī philosophers, or of persons engaged in fruitive activities (technically called karma-kāṇḍa), or of materialistic people who simply want to enjoy life without restriction. All such talks or literatures are practical exhibitions of the urge to speak. Many people are talking nonsensically and writing volumes of useless books, and all this is the result of the urge to speak. To counteract this tendency, we have to divert our talking to the subject of Kṛṣṇa.
Krsna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So I am the spirit soul. I am not proprietor. I am simply occupier. The, the rascal materialists, they do not know that the proprietor is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He is giving me a particular apartment according to my capacity of paying rent. This is my position. Otherwise, why everyone does not get first-class body, king's body or rich man's body? A child born, immediately he is rich man. So there is no arrangement? And another child born in the same moment is very poor man. Why? This is called karma-kāṇḍa. This child is given a room, an apartment, according to his capacity of paying rent. And the other child is given another apartment, very luxurious apartment, according to his capacity of rent-paying. This is called karma-kāṇḍa. According to your karma, or work, you get a body, either as a king's son or a cobbler's son or a dog's son or a cat's son or a tree's son or a plant's son. This is the nature. This is to be understood.
So charity, or sacrificing your possession for the benefit of others, this is also yajña. But they are called karma-kāṇḍa yajña, fruitive activities. By such performance of yajña, one can elevate his material position. Just like feeding the poor. It is also yajña. But the same thing, if it is dovetailed in consciousness, that becomes perfect. People are very much inclined to feed the poor with sumptuous food, but it can be done in a little different way, that the foodstuff offered to Viṣṇu, prasāda, that distribution foodstuff is better than ordinary distribution of foodstuff. Ordinarily, that is puṇya, pious activities, but when it is connection with Kṛṣṇa, this is called yajña. Dravya-yajña. To distribute food and cloth, that is called dravya-yajña, but yajña can be said when it is done, dovetailing the activities with Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Anyway, the process is mentioned, described in the Vedic literature, trai-vidyā. Trai-vidyā means Vedas. There are three kinds of knowledge in the Vedas, trai-vidyā: karma-kāṇḍa, upāsanā-kāṇḍa, and jñāna-kāṇḍa. Karma-kāṇḍa means this, how we can adjust material happiness or material living very nice. That is called karma-kāṇḍa. And then upāsanā-kāṇḍa. Upāsanā-kāṇḍa means how to worship the Supreme Lord or the demigod or different types of... There are demigods. The demigods are living beings like us, but they are very powerful. So that upāsanā-kāṇḍa, worship of different demigods is also mentioned there in the Vedas. That is called upāsanā-kāṇḍa. And jñāna-kāṇḍa. Jñāna-kāṇḍa means knowledge, philosophical. So therefore Veda is known as trai-vidyā, trayī. Trayī means three kinds of knowledge there are.
Unfortunately, for want of spiritual knowledge, for want of studying Bhagavad-gītā properly, we are simply taking care of this, I mean to say, temporary body. That is being explained. First of all Kṛṣṇa said that this body is the kṣetra. Kṣetra means field of activities. We are acting according to the body we have received. And this owner of the body is working; just like a cultivator has got a certain amount of land and he is cultivating and producing foodstuff according to his own capacity. This is called karma-kāṇḍa. We are working with this body and reaping the result and enjoying it. In this way we are repeating again and again, again and again, transmigration of the soul from one body to another.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
People are hankering after money. "How I shall get money to purchase this nice sāri for my wife or for my beloved, for my...?" Then "How I shall purchase wine? How I shall purchase this car, this?" Everything is that. Everything is meant for kāma, for sense gratification. Naturally, one should be inclined to earn money, more money, more money, and more sense gratification. That means he is becoming implicated. That he does not know. Nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma (SB 5.5.4). Pramattaḥ. Because they have become mad after sense gratification, they are doing everything which should not be done, vikarma. Karma vikarma akarma. So people are generally doing vikarma. Vikarma means forbidden, sinful activities. They are called vikarma. Karma is not sinful. Karma means according to the direction of the Vedas. That is called karma-kāṇḍa. But vikarma means against the principle of dharma.
So this cure of material disease have been described—we are discussing—first by atonement. So Parīkṣit Mahārāja did not like it very much because he saw, the atonement is like bathing of the elephant. By atonement we may be free from the infection, but again we do it. Karmaṇā. Then again... That is called karma-kāṇḍa, fruitive activities. Because the bīja, the seed of my sinful desires, that is not cured. For the time being... Just like go to the doctor. You are suffering from a severe disease, and he gives some medicine, takes his fees. That is my atonement, prāyaścitta. But it is no guarantee that I will not fall disease again. So this atonement like that.
Nectar of Devotion Lectures
Laws of material nature means karma. You act in a certain way and you get the result, good or bad; that is called karma. Sat-karma or asat-karma. Actually everything is asat-karma. Antavat tu phalaṁ teṣāṁ tad bhavaty alpa-medhasām (BG 7.23). So even taking, accepting that good work is nice, but it is also bondage. Suppose you give in charity. So the laws of nature is that if you give one by charity, you get four. So now to accept that four, you have to take birth again. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, karma-kāṇḍa jñāna-kāṇḍa sakali viṣera bandha. Karma-kāṇḍa means if you act very piously, next life you get good birth, good opulence, money, janma iśvarya-śruta, good education, beautiful body. These are the resultant actions of sat-karma. And asat-karma means you become poor, ugly, without any education, no riches, always hungry. These are the results of asat-karma. So this is called karma-kāṇḍa. And jñāna-kāṇḍa means to try to merge into the existence of the Lord, which, even if we do, but because you are under the impression of impersonalism, you again fall down. So both by the action of karma-kāṇḍa and jñāna-kāṇḍa one is not secure.
General Lectures
In all varieties of species of life... There are 8,400,000 species of life. The aquatics, the trees, the plants, the birds, the bees, the insects... Then human beings. And out of the human beings also, there are so many uncivilized. Civilized human beings are very few. And out of the civilized human beings, very few take to religious life. Very few. And out of these so-called religious human society, most of them, they simply designate, "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am Christian," but they do not know about religion. And one who knows about—not knows, little attracted—they are engaged in philanthropic work. To give help to the poor, or to open a school, hospital. This is called karma-kāṇḍa. Out of many millions of these karma-kāṇḍa people, one is jñānī. Jñānī means "one who knows." And out of millions of persons who know, one is liberated. And out of millions of liberated persons, one can understand what is Kṛṣṇa. This is the position of Kṛṣṇa.
| Page Title: | Called karma-kanda |
| Compiler: | Labangalatika, Alakananda |
| Created: | 15 of Jan, 2010 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=1, SB=0, CC=0, OB=2, Lec=8, Con=0, Let=0 |
| No. of Quotes: | 11 |