Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 Verse 12 — Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga
Sanskrit
काङ्क्षन्तः कर्मणां सिद्धिं यजन्त इह देवताः | क्षिप्रं हि मानुषे लोके सिद्धिर्भवति कर्मजा ||४-१२||
Transliteration
kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṃ siddhiṃ yajanta iha devatāḥ . kṣipraṃ hi mānuṣe loke siddhirbhavati karmajā ||4-12||
Hindi Meaning
।।4.12।। (सामान्य मनुष्य) यहाँ (इस लोक में) कर्मों के फल को चाहते हुये देवताओं को पूजते हैं; क्योंकि मनुष्य लोक में कर्मों के फल शीघ्र ही प्राप्त होते हैं।।
English Meaning
Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.
Commentary
There is a great misconception about the gods or demigods of this material world, and men of less intelligence, although passing as great scholars, take these demigods to be various forms of the Supreme Lord. Actually, the demigods are not different forms of God, but they are God’s different parts and parcels. God is one, and the parts and parcels are many. The Vedas say, nityo nityānām: God is one. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. The Supreme God is one – Kṛṣṇa – and the demigods are delegated with powers to manage this material world. These demigods are all living entities ( nityānām ) with different grades of material power. They cannot be equal to the Supreme God – Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa. Anyone who thinks that God and the demigods are on the same level is called an atheist, or pāṣaṇḍī. Even the great demigods like Brahmā and Śiva cannot be compared to the Supreme Lord. In fact, the Lord is worshiped by demigods such as Brahmā and Śiva ( śiva-viriñci-nutam ). Yet curiously enough there are many human leaders who are worshiped by foolish men under the misunderstanding of anthropomorphism or zoomorphism. Iha devatāḥ denotes a powerful man or demigod of this material world. But Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, does not belong to this world. He is above, or transcendental to, material creation. Even Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, the leader of the impersonalists, maintains that Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa, is beyond this material creation. However, foolish people ( hṛta-jñāna ) worship the demigods because they want immediate results. They get the results, but do not know that results so obtained are temporary and are meant for less intelligent persons. The intelligent person is in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he has no need to worship the paltry demigods for some immediate, temporary benefit. The demigods of this material world, as well as their worshipers, will vanish with the annihilation of this material world. The boons of the demigods are material and temporary. Both the material worlds and their inhabitants, including the demigods and their worshipers, are bubbles in the cosmic ocean. In this world, however, human society is mad after temporary things such as the material opulence of possessing land, family and enjoyable paraphernalia. To achieve such temporary things, people worship the demigods or powerful men in human society. If a man gets some ministership in the government by worshiping a political leader, he considers that he has achieved a great boon. All of them are therefore kowtowing to the so-called leaders or “big guns” in order to achieve temporary boons, and they indeed achieve such things. Such foolish men are not interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the permanent solution to the hardships of material existence. They are all after sense enjoyment, and to get a little facility for sense enjoyment they are attracted to worshiping empowered living entities known as demigods. This verse indicates that people are rarely interested in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. They are mostly interested in material enjoyment, and therefore they worship some powerful living entity.
Hinglish Commentary
Is duniya ke devtaon ya demigods ke baare mein ek bada galatfahmi hai, aur kuch log, jo khud ko bade vidwan samajhte hain, in demigods ko Bhagwan ke alag alag roop samajhte hain. Lekin asal mein, demigods Bhagwan ke alag alag hissa hain, alag roop nahi. Bhagwan ek hai, aur unke hissa bahut hain. Vedas kehte hain, nityo nityānām: Bhagwan ek hai. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Supreme God ek hi hai – Kṛṣṇa – aur demigods ko is duniya ko sambhalne ke liye shakti di gayi hai. Ye demigods sabhi jeev hain (nityānām) lekin inki material power alag-alag hai. Ye Supreme God – Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, ya Kṛṣṇa – ke barabar nahi ho sakte. Jo koi ye sochta hai ki Bhagwan aur demigods ek hi level par hain, usse atheist ya pāṣaṇḍī kaha jata hai. Brahmā aur Śiva jaise bade demigods bhi Supreme Lord ke saath nahi tulna kiya ja sakta. In fact, ye demigods bhi Bhagwan ki pooja karte hain, jaise Brahmā aur Śiva (śiva-viriñci-nutam). Lekin ajeeb hai ki bahut se human leaders ko kuch log bewakoofi se pooja karte hain, kyunki unhe lagta hai ki ye log bhi devta hain. Iha devatāḥ ka matlab hai is duniya ka koi shaktishaali aadmi ya demigod. Lekin Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, ya Kṛṣṇa, jo Supreme Personality of Godhead hain, wo is duniya se pare hain. Wo is material creation se upar hain. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya, jo impersonalists ke leader hain, bhi kehte hain ki Nārāyaṇa ya Kṛṣṇa is material creation se pare hain. Lekin kuch log (hṛta-jñāna) demigods ki pooja karte hain kyunki unhe turant results chahiye. Unhe results milte hain, lekin wo nahi jaante ki ye results temporary hain aur ye unhe sirf less intelligent logon ke liye hain. Samajhdar log Kṛṣṇa consciousness mein hain, aur unhe kisi bhi choti-moti demigods ki pooja karne ki zarurat nahi hai. Is duniya ke demigods aur unke poojak sab is material duniya ke khatam hone par gaayab ho jayenge. Demigods ke boons material aur temporary hain. Duniya aur iske log, jinmein demigods aur unke poojak bhi hain, sab cosmic ocean mein bubbles ki tarah hain. Lekin is duniya mein, insani samaj temporary cheezon jaise zameen, parivaar aur sukhbhog ki cheezein chahata hai. Aise temporary cheezein paane ke liye log demigods ya powerful logon ki pooja karte hain. Agar koi aadmi kisi political leader ki pooja karke minister ban jaata hai, to wo samajhta hai ki usne bada boon paa liya. Isliye sab log in so-called leaders ya "big guns" ke aage jhukte hain taaki wo temporary boons paa sakein, aur wo sach mein aise cheezein paa lete hain. Aise bewakoof log Kṛṣṇa consciousness mein permanent solution ke liye interested nahi hote. Ye sab sense enjoyment ke peeche hain, aur thoda sa sense enjoyment paane ke liye ye empowered living entities, yaani demigods ki pooja karte hain. Ye verse yeh dikhata hai ki log Kṛṣṇa consciousness mein kabhi kabhi hi interested hote hain. Wo zyada tar material enjoyment mein hi interested hote hain, aur isliye wo kisi powerful living entity ki pooja karte hain.
Chinmaya Commentary
सुकर्म अथवा दुष्कर्म करने के लिये आत्म चैतन्य अथवा ईश्वर की शक्ति की समान रूप से आवश्यकता है और वह उपलब्ध भी है। परन्तु मन की प्रवृत्ति बहिर्मुखी ही बनी रहने के कारण है इन्द्रियों का विषयों के साथ सम्पर्क होने पर निम्न स्तर के सुख की संवेदनाओं में उसकी आसक्ति। इस प्रकार के सुख सरलता से प्राप्त भी हो जाते हैं।अनेक प्रयत्नों के बावजूद हम वैषयिक सुख में ही रमते हैं जिसका कारण भगवान् बताते हैं मनुष्य लोक में कर्म की सिद्धि शीघ्र ही होती है।इस जगत् में विषयोपभोग के द्वारा सुख पाना सामान्य मनुष्य के लिये सरल प्रतीत होता है। वह सुख निकृष्ट होने पर भी बिना किसी प्रतिरोध के मिलता है और इस कारण सुख शान्ति की इच्छा करने वाला पुरुष अपनी आध्यात्मिक शक्ति को व्यर्थ ही इन वस्तुओं की प्राप्ति और भोग करने में खो देता है। इस कथन के सत्यत्व का हम सबको अनुभव है।उपर्युक्त विवरण का सम्बन्ध केवल लौकिक सामान्य भोगों में ही सीमित नहीं वरन् हमारी अन्य उपलब्धियों से भी है। वनस्पति एवं पशु जगत् की अपेक्षा हम सुनियोजित कर्मों के द्वारा प्रकृति को अपने लिये अधिक सुख प्रदान करने को बाध्य कर सकते हैं।जीवन के उत्कृष्ट एवं निकृष्ट मार्गों का अनुसरण करने वाले लोगों को हम उनकी अन्तर्मुखी और बहिर्मुखी प्रवृत्तियों के आधार पर विभाजित कर सकते हैं इन बहिर्मुखी लोगों का फिर चार प्रकार से वर्गीकरण किया जा सकता है जिसका आधार है उनके विचार गुण और कर्म।