karoti karma kriyate ca jantuḥ
kenÄpy asau codita Ä-nipatÄt
na tatra vidvÄn praká¹›tau sthito 'pi
nivá¹›tta-tṛṣṇaḥ sva-sukhÄnubhÅ«tyÄ
karoti - he performs; karma - material work; kriyate - is acted upon; ca - also; jantuḥ - the living entity; kena api - by some force or other; asau - he; coditaḥ - impelled; Ä-nipÄtÄt - up to the point of death; na - not; tatra - there; vidvÄn - a wise person; praká¹›tau - in material nature; sthitaḥ - situated; api - even though; nivá¹›tta - having given up; tṛṣṇaḥ - material desire; sva - by his own; sukha - of happiness; anubhÅ«tyÄ - experience.
An ordinary living entity performs material work and is transformed by the reaction to such work. Thus he is driven by various desires to continue working fruitively up to the very moment of his death. A wise person, however, having experienced his own constitutional bliss, gives up all material desires and does not engage in fruitive work.
By sexual association with women, a man is driven to enjoy the female form again and again, and indeed he remains lusty up to the moment of death. Similarly, through association with family and friends the knot of material attachment becomes very tight. Thus the reactions of fruitive work bind one more and more in the cycle of material defeat. But a learned person, one who is in touch with the Supreme Lord within his heart, realizes the ultimate frustration of material work and the danger of entering the womb of a pig or dog in a future life as the result of sinful activities. One on the platform of self-realization does not regard himself as an enjoyer of the world. Rather, he regards the entire cosmos as simply an insignificant expansion of the Lord’s potency — and himself as the Lord’s humble servant.
