If you have made a lot of money, perhaps as a trader or investor, you might like to take some profit off the table and use it for your pleasure, whatever that may be. We are all pursuing profit, since in this world the common measure of success is measured in currency and the things it buys. If you were really successful, you might earn the title “conqueror of wealth”, which is the name Krishna used to describe Arjuna in chapter 2:49 of Bhagavad Gita. The Sanskrit name is “Dhananjaya” (dhana – wealth; jaya – victory). If you have conquered wealth and gained victory in your investments and trading, then that would be a title you might earn.
Yet, curiously Krishna also tells Arjuna that he should give up this pursuit of profit if it is for selfish pleasure because it will only drag him into karmic reaction. It will bind him. The bondage that occurs, even from being a successful trader, is that you are now obliged to take on the results. You are bound to reap the rewards. And bondage is the opposite of liberation. Even successful profit taking is going to oblige you to taste the fruit of your success on the material platform. Yet in the ultimate scheme of things, enjoying such fruits is a limited pastime.
Rather, Krishna suggests focusing on the unlimited, on liberation from the bondage that occurs from accruing profit in currency. Focus on yoga, the goal of life, and you will attain an unlimited profit margin. That is the goal of life, according to the ultimate philosophy. If you think you are this temporary material body, then you will aspire for material rewards. Yet if you have seen the bigger picture, then you will realize yourself to be eternal spirit soul, only temporarily in this particular body. And then all the currency profit pales in comparison to the eternal truth of existence.
Not only does Krishna suggest using yoga to attain the eternal goal, but he also tells Arjuna that those who focus on taking profit merely for the body or temporary existence, are actually misers. The Sanskrit word for one who knows the ultimate nature of spirit (brahman), and its difference from matter, is called a brahmana. The opposite to brahmana is “kripana”, which means “miser”. And those who merely chase after profit on the material platform are called misers because they are not seeing the bigger picture. They are not considering the ultimate truth that we are eternal and all our profit chasing is pure short term frivolity by comparison.
Actually Krishna tells Arjuna to discard this pursuit of profit on the mundane platform and to pursue yoga. Now does that mean we give up trading currency for profit? Not necessarily. Although yes, at the mature stage of life (which is at different times for different people) one should indeed retire from the pursuit of profit for the sake of temporary survival, and rather pursue the goal of yoga, which is our eternal relationship with the divine, with god.
That is real wisdom. That is the path of the Buddha. Too much pursuit of profit can be habit forming, and binds one to the bodily concept of life. It clouds real consciousness and makes it harder to discard chasing coin at the time of retirement, when the pursuit of liberation is supposed to be primary.
Life allows for the pursuit of four things, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, or religion, money, sense enjoyment and liberation. Don’t forget your goal of pursuing liberation because you were too caught up in chasing profit and the pleasures of the body which it affords you. Remember your real goal of liberation from the material body. Know how to compare real values.
By obsessing over the mundane we become miserly in comparison to one who is focusing as intently upon the absolute, the transcendent. One in pursuit of brahman, or spirit, is called a brahmana and is generous, not only in knowledge sharing but also in nature, sharing real wealth, namely knowledge of consciousness and the attainment of eternal profit. Get stuck in artha and kama or chasing coin, and you end up being a miser if you’re not careful.
This realization only comes to those who know themselves and who know the ultimate truths about life and their constitutional position, which is as a servant of the divine, of god. And god is the source of all wealth anyway. Vishnu is the husband of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, as the divine couple are known in the Veda. So a wise person knows how to not only accumulate or attract wealth, but also how to channel it into serving the one who is the real owner of all wealth. We take profit to use in our yoga, in our service to Vishnu. We coin it to join it. We earn in order to use our profit as a tool for liberation and not as a chain of further bondage. Everything should be done as a service to god, rather than a service to self and one’s extensions, like family, society or humanity alone.
The “Art of Living” is a popular successful project which you may have heard of in recent years. Well, the original Sanskrit term is found in Bhagavad Gita ch2:50 where Krishna says “yoga karmasu kaushalam”, meaning “yoga is the art of work”. The art of living is not merely to book profit and then use it to feed the hungry or other such humanitarian affairs. The real art of living or art of work, is to channel any profit into your ultimate liberation and the liberation of all your dependents and actually all humanity. By taking profit and using it for mundane affairs – even pious charity – means that your work will bind you and oblige you to reap the material reward.
That may be a nice short term goal, but it will oblige you to take another body in order to reap those karmic rewards. And that is an obstacle on the ultimate path of liberation, which is the actual goal of life. A big bank balance or big physical body is not the goal of life. And that is the real bottom line. Knowing you real priority, compared to some superficial priority, is what will show you if you are successful with this human form of life or not. Use your profit to liberate yourself, otherwise it will chain you and you will be victimized by your action and reaction. Even good karma is an obstacle to transcendence when you have to take another birth to receive it.
So it’s up to you. Do you want to take short term profit or do you see the bigger picture and rather go for the ultimate profit? You have this asset of the human form of life, so use it for its real benefit, rather than get over-identified with it, when it is merely the tool, not the goal in itself.
One who sees the bigger picture can aim for a higher goal, and that is the message found in the Veda. Krishna advises his friend Arjuna to keep the real goal in the center of the focus, knowing that all the other short term goals are subsidiary to the prime objective. That is the real art of living. Yoga, and its ability to link us up with god, is the real strategy for maximum profit. Applying this strategy of yoga to your approach to life is the sign of the highest intelligence because with it you book the ultimate profit. Why settle for anything less?
Bhagavad Gita ch2:49
दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय ।
बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः ॥ ४९ ॥
dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma
buddhi-yogād dhananjaya
buddhau śaraṇam anviccha
kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ
dūreṇa—by discarding it at a long distance; hi—certainly; avaram—abominable; karma—activities; buddhi-yogāt—on the strength of Kṛṣṇa consciousness; dhananjaya—O conqueror of wealth; buddhau—in such consciousness; śaraṇam—full surrender; anviccha—desire; kṛpaṇāḥ—the misers; phala-hetavaḥ—those desiring fruitive action
TRANSLATION
O Dhananjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers.
COMMENTARY
One who has actually come to understand one's constitutional position as the eternal servitor of the Lord gives up all engagements save working in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. As already explained, buddhi-yoga means transcendental loving service to the Lord. Such devotional service is the right course of action for the living entity. Only misers desire to enjoy the fruit of their own work just to be further entangled in material bondage. Except for work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all activities are abominable because they continually bind the worker to the cycle of birth and death. One should therefore never desire to be the cause of work. Everything should be done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Misers do not know how to utilize the assets of riches which they acquire by good fortune or by hard labor. One should spend all energies working in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that will make one's life successful. Like the misers, unfortunate persons do not employ their human energy in the service of the Lord.
Bhagavad Gita ch2:50
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते ।
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ॥ ५० ॥
buddhi-yukto jahātīha
ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte
tasmād yogāya yujyasva
yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam
buddhi-yuktaḥ—one who is engaged in devotional service; jahāti—can get rid of; iha—in this life; ubhe—in both; sukṛta-duṣkṛte—in good and bad results; tasmāt—therefore; yogāya—for the sake of devotional service; yujyasva—be so engaged; yogaḥ—Kṛṣṇa consciousness; karmasu—in all activities; kauśalam—art
TRANSLATION
A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore strive for yoga, O Arjuna, which is the art of all work.
COMMENTARY
Since time immemorial each living entity has accumulated the various reactions of his good and bad work, As such, he is continuously ignorant of his real constitutional position. One's ignorance can be removed by the instruction of the Bhagavad-gītā which teaches one to surrender unto Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in all respects and become liberated from the chained victimization of action and reaction, birth after birth. Arjuna is therefore advised to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the purifying process of resultant action.
Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta, original 1972 Macmillan edition (www.prabhupadabooks.com)
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