Bg 11.55
mat-karma-krn mat-paramo
mad-bhaktah sanga-varjitah
nirvairah sarva-bhutesu
yah sa mam eti pandava
Word for word:
mat-karma-krt — engaged in doing My work; mat-paramah — considering Me the Supreme; mat-bhaktah — engaged in My devotional service; sanga-varjitah — freed from the contamination of fruitive activities and mental speculation; nirvairah — without an enemy; sarva-bhutesu — among all living entities; yah — one who; sah — he; mam — unto Me; eti — comes; pandava — O son of Pandu.
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
My dear Arjuna, he who engages in My pure devotional service, free from the contaminations of fruitive activities and mental speculation, he who works for Me, who makes Me the supreme goal of his life, and who is friendly to every living being – he certainly comes to Me.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Anyone who wants to approach the supreme of all the Personalities of Godhead, on the Krishnaloka planet in the spiritual sky, and be intimately connected with the Supreme Personality, Krishna, must take this formula, as stated by the Supreme Himself. Therefore, this verse is considered to be the essence of Bhagavad-gita. The Bhagavad-gita is a book directed to the conditioned souls, who are engaged in the material world with the purpose of lording it over nature and who do not know of the real, spiritual life. The Bhagavad-gita is meant to show how one can understand his spiritual existence and his eternal relationship with the supreme spiritual personality and to teach one how to go back home, back to Godhead. Now here is the verse which clearly explains the process by which one can attain success in his spiritual activity: devotional service.
As far as work is concerned, one should transfer his energy entirely to Krishna conscious activities. As stated in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.2.255),
anasaktasya visayan
yatharham upayunjatah
nirbandhah Krishna-sambandhe
yuktam vairagyam ucyate
No work should be done by any man except in relationship to Krishna. This is called Krishna-karma. One may be engaged in various activities, but one should not be attached to the result of his work; the result should be done only for Him. For example, one may be engaged in business, but to transform that activity into Krishna consciousness, one has to do business for Krishna. If Krishna is the proprietor of the business, then Krishna should enjoy the profit of the business. If a businessman is in possession of thousands and thousands of dollars, and if he has to offer all this to Krishna, he can do it. This is work for Krishna. Instead of constructing a big building for his sense gratification, he can construct a nice temple for Krishna, and he can install the Deity of Krishna and arrange for the Deity’s service, as is outlined in the authorized books of devotional service. This is all Krishna-karma. One should not be attached to the result of his work, but the result should be offered to Krishna, and one should accept as prasadam the remnants of offerings to Krishna. If one constructs a very big building for Krishna and installs the Deity of Krishna, one is not prohibited from living there, but it is understood that the proprietor of the building is Krishna. That is called Krishna consciousness. If, however, one is not able to construct a temple for Krishna, one can engage himself in cleansing the temple of Krishna; that is also Krishna-karma. One can cultivate a garden. Anyone who has land – in India, at least, any poor man has a certain amount of land – can utilize that for Krishna by growing flowers to offer Him. One can sow tulasi plants, because tulasi leaves are very important and Krishna has recommended this in Bhagavad-gita. Patram puspam phalam toyam. Krishna desires that one offer Him either a leaf, or a flower, or fruit, or a little water – and by such an offering He is satisfied. This leaf especially refers to the tulasi. So one can sow tulasi and pour water on the plant. Thus, even the poorest man can engage in the service of Krishna. These are some of the examples of how one can engage in working for Krishna.
The word mat-paramah refers to one who considers the association of Krishna in His supreme abode to be the highest perfection of life. Such a person does not wish to be elevated to the higher planets such as the moon or sun or heavenly planets, or even the highest planet of this universe, Brahmaloka. He has no attraction for that. He is only attracted to being transferred to the spiritual sky. And even in the spiritual sky he is not satisfied with merging into the glowing brahma-jyotir effulgence, for he wants to enter the highest spiritual planet, namely Krishnaloka, Goloka Vrndavana. He has full knowledge of that planet, and therefore he is not interested in any other. As indicated by the word mad-bhaktah, he fully engages in devotional service, specifically in the nine processes of devotional engagement: hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering prayers, carrying out the orders of the Lord, making friends with Him, and surrendering everything to Him. One can engage in all nine devotional processes, or eight, or seven, or at least in one, and that will surely make one perfect.
The term sanga-varjitah is very significant. One should disassociate himself from persons who are against Krishna. Not only are the atheistic persons against Krishna, but so also are those who are attracted to fruitive activities and mental speculation. Therefore the pure form of devotional service is described in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (1.1.11) as follows:
anyabhilasita-sunyam
jnana-karmady-anavrtam
anukulyena Krishnanu-
silanam bhaktir uttama
In this verse Srila Rupa Gosvami clearly states that if anyone wants to execute unalloyed devotional service, he must be freed from all kinds of material contamination. He must be freed from the association of persons who are addicted to fruitive activities and mental speculation. When, freed from such unwanted association and from the contamination of material desires, one favorably cultivates knowledge of Krishna, that is called pure devotional service. Anukulyasya sankalpah pratikulyasya varjanam (Hari-bhakti-vilasa 11.676). One should think of Krishna and act for Krishna favorably, not unfavorably. Kamsa was an enemy of Krishna’s. From the very beginning of Krishna’s birth, Kamsa planned in so many ways to kill Him, and because he was always unsuccessful, he was always thinking of Krishna. Thus while working, while eating and while sleeping, he was always Krishna conscious in every respect, but that Krishna consciousness was not favorable, and therefore in spite of his always thinking of Krishna twenty-four hours a day, he was considered a demon, and Krishna at last killed him. Of course anyone who is killed by Krishna attains salvation immediately, but that is not the aim of the pure devotee. The pure devotee does not even want salvation. He does not want to be transferred even to the highest planet, Goloka Vrndavana. His only objective is to serve Krishna wherever he may be.
A devotee of Krishna is friendly to everyone. Therefore it is said here that he has no enemy (nirvairah). How is this? A devotee situated in Krishna consciousness knows that only devotional service to Krishna can relieve a person from all the problems of life. He has personal experience of this, and therefore he wants to introduce this system, Krishna consciousness, into human society. There are many examples in history of devotees of the Lord who risked their lives for the spreading of God consciousness. The favorite example is Lord Jesus Christ. He was crucified by the nondevotees, but he sacrificed his life for spreading God consciousness. Of course, it would be superficial to understand that he was killed. Similarly, in India also there are many examples, such as Thakura Haridasa and Prahlada Maharaja. Why such risk? Because they wanted to spread Krishna consciousness, and it is difficult. A Krishna conscious person knows that if a man is suffering it is due to his forgetfulness of his eternal relationship with Krishna. Therefore, the highest benefit one can render to human society is relieving one’s neighbor from all material problems. In such a way, a pure devotee is engaged in the service of the Lord. Now, we can imagine how merciful Krishna is to those engaged in His service, risking everything for Him. Therefore it is certain that such persons must reach the supreme planet after leaving the body.
In summary, the universal form of Krishna, which is a temporary manifestation, and the form of time which devours everything, and even the form of Visnu, four-handed, have all been exhibited by Krishna. Thus Krishna is the origin of all these manifestations. It is not that Krishna is a manifestation of the original visva-rupa, or Visnu. Krishna is the origin of all forms. There are hundreds and thousands of Visnus, but for a devotee no form of Krishna is important but the original form, two-handed Syamasundara. In the Brahma-samhita it is stated that those who are attached to the Syamasundara form of Krishna in love and devotion can see Him always within the heart and cannot see anything else. One should understand, therefore, that the purport of this Eleventh Chapter is that the form of Krishna is essential and supreme.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta Purports to the Eleventh Chapter of the Srimad Bhagavad-gita in the matter of the Universal Form.