sei karma karāya, yāte haya bhava-bandha
Synonyms
Translation
Purport
As clearly stated in Bhagavad-gītā (3.9), yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yam-karma-bandhanaḥ: if one does not act as a pure devotee, whatever acts he per forms will produce reactions of fruitive bondage (karma-bandhanaḥ). In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is said:
nūnaṁ pramattaḥ kurute vikarma
yad-indriya-prīta ya āpṛṇoti
na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam
asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ
"A materialistic person, madly engaged in activities for sense enjoyment, does not know that he is entangling himself in repeated birth and death and that his body, although temporary, is full of miseries." (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.5.4) A viṣayī, a person blindly caught in a web of materialistic life, remains in the cycle of birth and death perpetually. Such a person cannot understand how to execute pure devotional service, and therefore he acts as a karmī, jñānī, yogī or something else, according to his desire, but he does not know that the activities of karma, jñāna and yoga simply bind one to the cycle of birth and death.