इन्द्रियेषु क्रियायज्ञान् ज्ञानदीपेषु जुह्वति ॥५२॥
niá¹£ekÄdi-Å›maÅ›ÄnÄntaiḥ
saá¹skÄraiḥ saá¹ská¹›to dvijaḥ
indriyeá¹£u kriyÄ-yajñÄn
jñÄna-dÄ«peá¹£u juhvati
niá¹£eka-Ädi - the beginning of life (the purificatory process of garbhÄdhÄna, performed when the father begets a child by discharging semen into the womb of the mother); Å›maÅ›Äna-antaiḥ - and at death, when the body is put into a crematorium and burnt to ashes; saá¹skÄraiḥ - by such purificatory processes; saá¹ská¹›taḥ - purified; dvijaḥ - a twice-born brÄhmaṇa; indriyeá¹£u - into the senses; kriyÄ-yajñÄn - activities and sacrifices (which elevate one to a higher planetary system); jñÄna-dÄ«peá¹£u - by enlightenment in real knowledge; juhvati - offers.
A twice-born brÄhmaṇa [dvija] gains his life by the grace of his parents through the process of purification known as garbhÄdhÄna. There are also other processes of purification, until the end of life, when the funeral ceremony [antyeá¹£á¹i-kriyÄ] is performed. Thus in due course a qualified brÄhmaṇa becomes uninterested in materialistic activities and sacrifices, but he offers the sensual sacrifices, in full knowledge, into the working senses, which are illuminated by the fire of knowledge.
Those interested in materialistic activities remain in the cycle of birth and death. Pravá¹›tti-mÄrga, or the inclination to stay in the material world to enjoy varieties of sense gratification, has been explained in the previous verse. Now, in this verse, it is explained that one who has perfect brahminical knowledge rejects the process of elevation to higher planets and accepts nivá¹›tti-mÄrga; in other words, he prepares himself to go back home, back to Godhead. Those who are not brÄhmaṇas but atheists do not know what is pravá¹›tti-mÄrga or nivá¹›tti-mÄrga; they simply want to obtain pleasure at any cost. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is therefore training devotees to give up the pravá¹›tti-mÄrga and accept the nivá¹›tti-mÄrga in order to return home, back to Godhead. This is a little difficult to understand, but it is very easy if one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously and tries to understand Kṛṣṇa. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person can understand that performing yajña according to the karma-kÄṇá¸a system is a useless waste of time and that merely giving up the karma-kÄṇá¸a and accepting the process of speculation is also unfruitful. Therefore Narottama dÄsa ṬhÄkura has sung in his Prema-bhakti-candrikÄ:
karma-kÄṇá¸a, jñÄna-kÄṇá¸a, kevala viá¹£era bhÄṇá¸a
‘amá¹›ta’ baliyÄ yebÄ khÄya
nÄnÄ yoni sadÄ phire, kadarya bhaká¹£aṇa kare,
tÄra janma adhaḥ-pÄte yÄya
A life of karma-kÄṇá¸a or jñÄna-kÄṇá¸a is like a poison pot, and one who takes to such a life is doomed. In the karma-kÄṇá¸a system, one is destined to accept birth and death again and again. Similarly, with jñÄna-kÄṇá¸a one falls down again to this material world. Only worship of the Supreme Person offers one the safety of going back home, back to Godhead.
