Karma-yoga Part 10

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi
brahmākṣara-samudbhavam
tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma
nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam

"Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice." [Bhagavad-gita 3.15]

So if we want to know how to see God, then the answer is that we have to perform sacrifice according to the directions of the Vedas. Why? Because the Vedas are manifest directly from the breathing of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and are therefore transcendental. They are not ordinary exoteric religious scriptures written by human beings, therefore they are not subject to the flaws of limited human intelligence.

When we work according to the directions of the Vedas, we are released from all karmic reaction, and our minds become free from the influence of the modes of material nature. This wonderful state of transcendental consciousness has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. It is beyond all mundane pleasure and pain, beyond all ignorance, anxiety and fear. It is even beyond the peace of the material mode of goodness.

And how do the Vedas direct us to work? They tell us to give up sinful activities like meat eating, intoxication, illicit sex and gambling, stop speculating and surrender to Krsna. Chant the Holy Name offenselessly, day and night. Approach and serve a spiritual master in the bona fide Vedic lineage, and learn the science of transcendental knowledge from him. One who does everything out of love for Krsna is on the highest platform of transcendental consciousness, and for him there is no suffering or rebirth.

When we live like this, although apparently still in material existence, we are actually in the spiitual world. It is a matter of consciousness, of looking at things through the eyes of the Vedas. And the Vedas say, "Don't lament; you're a spirit soul, different from the material body. Your eternal existence is already assured. Do all your activities as an offering to Krsna, and you will not have to suffer."

So if we accept this good advice, then we are released from the karmic cycle of cause and effect, and experience eternal bliss in the spiritual world. Isn't that what everyone really wants? But the price is that we give up our independent spirit—not our individuality, but our rebelliousness—and dedicate all our work as an offering to the Supreme Lord. That is the solution to all the problems of material existence.