Verse 2.1.240

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.1.240:

ভক্তি-হীন-কর্মে কোন ফল নাহি পায সেই কর্ম ভক্তি-হীন,—পরহিংসা যায” ॥ ২৪০ ॥

भक्ति-हीन-कर्मे कोन फल नाहि पाय सेइ कर्म भक्ति-हीन,—परहिंसा याय” ॥ २४० ॥

bhakti-hīna-karme kona phala nāhi pāya sei karma bhakti-hīna,—parahiṃsā yāya” || 240 ||

bhakti-hina-karme kona phala nahi paya sei karma bhakti-hina,—parahimsa yaya” (240)

English translation:

(240) “There is no substantial result in activities that are devoid of devotion to the Lord. Such nondevotional activities simply result in violence to others.”

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The performer of pious activities not executed for the pleasure of the Lord does not achieve any result. Activities that are devoid of devotion to the Lord are simply violence. In other words, every activity in which there is an absence of devotional service results in violence. Fruitive activities and mental speculation are both dependent on devotional service, but devotional service is not dependent on fruitive activities, mental speculation, or mystic yoga, rather it is fully independent and unaffected by anything material. There is no possibility of violence in the execution of devotional service. In other words, no form of violent activities can remain in the devotional service of a servant inclined towards the service of the Lord.

Condemnation of materialistic activities is described in the following statements. In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.23.56) Lord Kapila speaks to His mother, Devahūti, as follows:

neha yat karma dharmāya na virāgāya kalpate

na tīrtha-pada-sevāyai jīvann api mṛto hi saḥ

“Anyone whose work is not meant to elevate him to religious life, anyone whose religious ritualistic performances do not raise him to renunciation, and anyone situated in renunciation that does not lead him to devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, must be considered dead, although he is breathing.”

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.2.8) Śrī Sūta Gosvāmī speaks to the sages headed by Śaunaka as follows:

dharmaḥ svanuṣṭhitaḥ puṃsāṃ viṣvaksena-kathāsu yaḥ notpādayed yadi ratiṃ

śrama eva hi kevalam

useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.”

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.5.12) Śrī Nārada Muni speaks to Śrī Vyāsa as follows:

naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṃ na śobhate jñānam alaṃ nirañjanam kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare na cārpitaṃ karma yad apy akāraṇam

“Knowledge of self-realization, even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible [God]. What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilized for the devotional service of the Lord?”

In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.21) Lord Kṛṣṇa instructs Arjuna as follows:

te taṃ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṃ viśālaṃ kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṃ viśanti evaṃ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā gatāgataṃ kāma-kāmā labhante

“When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth and death.” In the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.7) it is stated:

plavā hy ete adṛḍhā yajña-rūpā aṣṭādaśoktam avaraṃ yeṣu karma etac chreyo ye ‘bhinandanti mūḍhā jarā-mṛtyuṃ te punar evāpi yanti

“Even the best kinds of karmic sacrifice carefully performed with

eighteen priests are unreliable boats for crossing the ocean of material existence. Those deluded souls who take to materialistic forms of sacrifice, thinking that they lead to the highest spiritual gain, are fools who suffer again and again the miseries of birth, death, old age, and disease.”

Again in the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.2.9) it is stated:

yat karmiṇo na pravedayanti rāgāt tenāturāḥ kṣīṇa-lokāś cyavante

“Deep in the darkness of ignorance, these fools think, ‘We have reached the goal.’ Being attached to karmic religions they fail to understand the truth. After their piety is exhausted they fall down to repeated birth and death.”