Bhagavad Gita 3.10

[Paramananda das]

Chapter 3. Karma-yoga

TEXT 10

saha-yajnah prajah srstva
purovaca prajapatih
anena prasavisyadhvam
esa vo 'stv ista-kama-dhuk

SYNONYMS
saha--along with; yajnah--sacrifices; prajah--generations; srstva--creating; pura--anciently; uvaca--said; praja-patih--the Lord of creatures; anena--by this; prasavisyadhvam--be more and more prosperous; esah--certainly; vah--your; astu--let it be; ista--all desirable; kama-dhuk--bestower.

TRANSLATION
In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Visnu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajna [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things."

PURPORT
The material creation by the Lord of creatures (Visnu) is a chance offered to the conditioned souls to come back home--back to Godhead. All living entities within the material creation are conditioned by material nature because of their forgetfulness of their relationship to Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Vedic principles are to help us understand this eternal relation, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita: vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah. The Lord says that the purpose of the Vedas is to understand Him. In the Vedic hymns it is said: patim visvasyatmesvaram. Therefore, the Lord of the living entities is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Visnu. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam also Srila Sukadeva Gosvami describes the Lord as pati in so many ways:

sriyah patir yajna-patih praja-patir
dhiyam patir loka-patir dhara-patih
patir gatis candhaka-vrsni-satvatam
prasidatam me bhagavan satam patih
(Bhag. 2.4.20)

The praja-pati is Lord Visnu, and He is the Lord of all living creatures, all worlds, and all beauties, and the protector of everyone. The Lord created this material world for the conditioned souls to learn how to perform yajnas (sacrifice) for the satisfaction of Visnu, so that while in the material world they can live very comfortably without anxiety. Then after finishing the present material body, they can enter into the kingdom of God. That is the whole program for the conditioned soul. By performance of yajna, the conditioned souls gradually become Krsna conscious and become godly in all respects. In the Age of Kali, the sankirtana-yajna (the chanting of the names of God) is recommended by the Vedic scriptures, and this transcendental system was introduced by Lord Caitanya for the deliverance of all men in this age. Sankirtana-yajna and Krsna consciousness go well together. Lord Krsna in His devotional form (as Lord Caitanya) is mentioned in the Srimad-Bhagavatam as follows, with special reference to the sankirtana-yajna:

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam sangopangastra-parsadam
yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah

"In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of sankirtana-yajna." (Bhag. 11.5.32) Other yajnas prescribed in the Vedic literatures are not easy to perform in this Age of Kali, but the sankirtana-yajna is easy and sublime for all purposes.

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

Therefore, one with impure heart should perform actions without desire, rather than give up action. Now, if you cannot be desireless in the actions, then you should still perform actions offered to Visnu with desire, rather than give up actions completely. This is explained in seven verses.

Long ago, along with yajna, Brahma created the creature qualified for offering to Visnu and said, “Increase more and more the population by this dharma or yajna. May this yajna bestow all desired enjoyment (ista kama dhuk).” By this he indicated that they had material desires.

The compound saha-yajna is formed by the rule vopasarjanasya (Panini 6.3.82). The compound saha-yajna is used instead of sa-yajna.

Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Visnuswami
Sridhara Swami's Commentary

So we see that not only Lord Krishna is stating this but also according to Prajapati or Brahma the creator of all material beings, that one who performs actions is superior to one who performs no actions. This is being explained in this and the next three verses. The words saha-yagnah-prajah means all progeny in existence in general but specifically the brahmans and ksatriyas who perform worship according to the Vedic scriptures. Verily remembering Lord Krishna and chanting His holy names is yagna or worship and by such sacrifice mankind will flourish and prosper. Here the word yagna means the time sacrificed to do the daily duties offered to the Supreme Lord and other obligatory activities such as following Ekadasi. Although there is no question of praising work that is done with desires it still exhibits that in general actions are better than inertness and lassitude which are more objectionable.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Madhvacarya
There is no commentary for this verse.
Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Ramanuja
Ramanuja's Commentary

In the Vedic scriptures the term Prajapati is unrestrictedly designated to the Supreme Lord Krishna, or any of duly authorised avatars or incarnations such as Narayana lord of all creation or Jagannatha lord of the universes. In the beginning of creation the Supreme Lord reflected on the plight of the living entities entangled in matter from time immemorial. These living entities were destitute of name, form and a distinction between one another as they were dormant within a portion of the Supreme Lords potency. Possessing an eternal soul they had the ability to fulfill great goals but they languishing inert like latent substances.

In this case Prajapati refers to Brahma, a duly authorised Guna avatar of the Supreme Lord who while reflecting on them out of His infinite mercy and for the sake of their ultimate redemption, inspired Brahma to project them into the material manifestation. Brahma worshipped the Supreme Lord as sacrifice and thus inaugurated the institution of yagna which will fulfill all ones highest ambitions granting moksa or libeartion in the spiritual worlds. How this will manifest will be further explained in the next verse.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya:

Nimbaditya
Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary

Here Lord Krishna reveals the words of Prajapati or Brahma the creator of the forms and categories of material beings and the arranger of the material manifestation. Here it states that one desiring liberation should perform selfless actions with the thought of appeasement and propitiation to the Supreme Lord. Now Lord Krishna is infering that he teaches this knowledge of propitiatiopn to His devotees only. This is because Brahma has given facilty for beings other than the devotees to worship in appeasement lesser gods such as the demi-gods. Thus after Brahma created mankind he instructed the three twice born classes of brahmins, ksatriyas and vaisyas to perform selfless actions in the spirit of worship of the Supreme Lord and this will be for you sacrifice. Sacrifing the desires for reward and attachment to the results and in this way mankind will flourish and prosper. The actual understanding is that this spirit of sacrifice perfromed with faith acording to ones status and stage in life will bequeath all auspiciousness in this life and the next life. Such instructions for such wishfulfilling actions and the confusion that might arise to due to them from statements of non- attachment earlier in this chapter in verses four, seven and seventeen as well as refering to delighting in the atma or soul in this chapter in verses three and nineteen is empasising different approaches to the same goal based on qualification so there is no contradiction.

[Paramananda das]

An immediate response is there for the surrender soul namely to do Harinama Sankirtana and bookdistribution.Srila Prabhupada told one devotee that wanted to take sannyasa. Bookdistribution is 1000 times higher than sannyasa , no need for you to take sannyasa

[Paramananda das]

He took sannyasa to later leave ISKCON to join Gaudiya math and never distribute Srila Prabhupadas books again

[Paramananda das]

http://www.prabhupadavani.org/main/Bhagavad-gita/GT113.html

[Paramananda das]

TEXT 20
śriyaḥ patir yajña-patiḥ prajā-patir
dhiyāṁ patir loka-patir dharā-patiḥ
patir gatiś cāndhaka-vṛṣṇi-sātvatāṁ
prasīdatāṁ me bhagavān satāṁ patiḥ
SYNONYMS
śriyaḥ—all opulence; patiḥ—the owner; yajña—of sacrifice; patiḥ—the director; prajā-patiḥ—the leader of all living entities; dhiyām—of intelligence; patiḥ—the master; loka-patiḥ—the proprietor of all planets; dharā—earth; patiḥ—the supreme; patiḥ—head; gatiḥ—destination; ca—also; andhaka—one of the kings of the Yadu dynasty; vṛṣṇi—the first king of the Yadu dynasty; sātvatām—the Yadus; prasīdatām—be merciful; me—upon me; bhagavān—Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa; satām—of all devotees; patiḥ—the Lord.
TRANSLATION
May Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the worshipable Lord of all devotees, the protector and glory of all the kings like Andhaka and Vṛṣṇi of the Yadu dynasty, the husband of all goddesses of fortune, the director of all sacrifices and therefore the leader of all living entities, the controller of all intelligence, the proprietor of all planets, spiritual and material, and the supreme incarnation on the earth (the supreme all in all), be merciful upon me.
PURPORT
Since Śukadeva Gosvāmī is one of the prominent gata-vyalīkas, who are freed from all misconceptions, he therefore expresses his own realized perception of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa as being the sum total of all perfection, the Personality of Godhead. Everyone is seeking the favor of the goddess of fortune, but people do not know that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the beloved husband of all goddesses of fortune. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said that the Lord, in His transcendental abode Goloka Vṛndāvana, is accustomed to herding the surabhi cows and is served there by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune. All these goddesses of fortune are manifestations of His transcendental pleasure potency (hlādinī-śakti) in His internal energy, and when the Lord manifested Himself on this earth He partially displayed the activities of His pleasure potency in His rāsa-līlā just to attract the conditioned souls, who are all after the phantasmagoria pleasure potency in degraded sex enjoyment. The pure devotees of the Lord like Śukadeva Gosvāmī, who was completely detached from the abominable sex life of the material world, discussed this act of the Lord's pleasure potency certainly not in relation to sex, but to relish a transcendental taste inconceivable to the mundaners who are after sex life. Sex life in the mundane world is the root-cause of being conditioned by the shackles of illusion, and certainly Śukadeva Gosvāmī was never interested in the sex life of the mundane world. Nor does the manifestation of the Lord's pleasure potency have any connection with such degraded things. Lord Caitanya was a strict sannyāsī, so much so that He did not allow any woman to come near Him, not even to bow down and offer respects. He never even heard the prayers of the deva-dāsīs offered in the temple of Jagannātha because a sannyāsī is forbidden to hear songs sung by the fair sex. Yet even in the rigid position of a sannyāsī He recommended the mode of worship preferred by the gopīs of Vṛndāvana as the topmost loving service possible to be rendered to the Lord. And Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the principal head of all such goddesses of fortune, and therefore She is the pleasure counterpart of the Lord and is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa.
In the Vedic rituals there are recommendations for performing different types of sacrifice in order to achieve the greatest benefit in life. Such benedictions as the results of performing great sacrifices are, after all, favors given by the goddess of fortune, and the Lord, being the husband or lover of the goddess of fortune, is factually the Lord of all sacrifices also. He is the final enjoyer of all kinds of yajña; therefore Yajña-pati is another name of Lord Viṣṇu. It is recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā that everything be done for the Yajña-pati (yajñārtāt karmaṇaḥ), for otherwise one's acts will be the cause of conditioning by the law of material nature. Those who are not freed from all misconceptions (vyalīkam) perform sacrifices to please the minor demigods, but the devotees of the Lord know very well that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the supreme enjoyer of all performances of sacrifice; therefore they perform the saṅkīrtana-yajña (śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ [SB 7.5.23]), which is especially recommended in this age of Kali. In Kali-yuga, performance of other types of sacrifice is not feasible due to insufficient arrangements and inexpert priesthood.
We have information from the Bhagavad-gītā (3.10-11) that Lord Brahmā, after giving rebirth to the conditioned souls within the universe, instructed them to perform sacrifices and to lead a prosperous life. With such sacrificial performances the conditioned souls will never be in difficulty in keeping body and soul together. Ultimately they can purify their existence. They will find natural promotion into spiritual existence, the real identity of the living being. A conditioned soul should never give up the practice of sacrifice, charity and austerity, in any circumstances. The aim of all such sacrifices is to please the Yajña-pati, the Personality of Godhead; therefore the Lord is also Prajā-pati. According to the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, the one Lord is the leader of the innumerable living entities. The living entities are maintained by the Lord (eko bahūnāṁ yo vidadhāti kāmān). The Lord is therefore called the supreme Bhūta-bhṛt, or maintainer of all living beings.
Living beings are proportionately endowed with intelligence in terms of their previous activities. All living beings are not equally endowed with the same quality of intelligence because behind such development of intelligence is the control of the Lord, as declared in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15). As Paramātmā, Supersoul, the Lord is living in everyone's heart, and from Him only does one's power of remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness follow (mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca). One person can sharply remember past activities by the grace of the Lord while others cannot. One is highly intelligent by the grace of the Lord, and one is a fool by the same control. Therefore the Lord is Dhiyām-pati, or the Lord of intelligence.
The conditioned souls strive to become lords of the material world. Everyone is trying to lord it over the material nature by applying his highest degree of intelligence. This misuse of intelligence by the conditioned soul is called madness. One's full intelligence should be applied to get free from the material clutches. But the conditioned soul, due to madness only, engages his full energy and intelligence in sense gratification, and to achieve this end of life he willfully commits all sorts of misdeeds. The result is that instead of attaining an unconditional life of full freedom, the mad conditioned soul is entangled again and again in different types of bondage in material bodies. Everything we see in the material manifestation is but the creation of the Lord. Therefore He is the real proprietor of everything in the universes. The conditioned soul can enjoy a fragment of this material creation under the control of the Lord, but not self-sufficiently. That is the instruction in the Īśopaniṣad. One should be satisfied with things awarded by the Lord of the universe. It is out of madness only that one tries to encroach upon another's share of material possessions.
The Lord of the universe, out of His causeless mercy upon the conditioned souls, descends by His own energy (ātma-māyā) to reestablish the eternal relation of the conditioned souls with Him. He instructs all to surrender unto Him instead of falsely claiming to be enjoyers for a certain limit under His control. When He so descends He proves how much greater is His ability to enjoy, and He exhibits His power of enjoyment by (for instance) marrying sixteen thousand wives at once. The conditioned soul is very proud of becoming the husband of even one wife, but the Lord laughs at this; the intelligent man can know who is the real husband. Factually, the Lord is the husband of all the women in His creation, but a conditioned soul under the control of the Lord feels proud to be the husband of one or two wives.
All these qualifications as the different types of pati mentioned in this verse are meant for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī has therefore especially mentioned the pati and gati of the Yadu dynasty. The members of the Yadu dynasty knew that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is everything, and all of them intended to return to Lord Kṛṣṇa after He had finished His transcendental pastimes on the earth. The Yadu dynasty was annihilated by the will of the Lord because its members had to return home with the Lord. The annihilation of the Yadu dynasty was a material show created by the Supreme Lord; otherwise the Lord and the members of the Yadu dynasty are all eternal associates. The Lord is therefore the guide of all devotees, and as such, Śukadeva Gosvāmī offered Him due respects with love-laden feelings.

[Paramananda das]