यतः प्रवृत्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।
स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः ॥ १८.४६ ॥

yata: pravṛttir-bhūtānām yena sarvam-idam tatam |
svakarmaṇā tam-abhyarcya siddhim vindati mānava: || 18.46 ||

Audio-BG-18.46

Steps in Devotion

Make All Activities a Worship

How does this fruition work and where lies its emphasis?

By devoutly offering one’s own action (and pursuit) to that from which all beings have emerged, and by which all this is pervaded, man attains perfection.

When does one’s pursuit become lively, interesting and dedicated? The question is indeed crucial. Krishna has a clear answer too. Everyone’s action, judged in the background of Nature, is an important link in the complex chain of Universal creation. But people generally fail in making this evaluation. The mind is carried away by the force of selfish notes. And the intelligence comes up with its peculiar arguments and evaluations.

An individual is but a member of the family; the family is likewise a member of the nation; the nation is of the whole continent; the continent itself a unit of the wide earth; and the earth too is only a planet in one of the countless galaxies, small and big, constituting the universe. Who but the ignorant can stop thinking merely at the level of himself and his family?

As denizens of the earth, we are related to the whole world, just as an individual is related to his family. So, one’s life is more a persuasion for the individual to think with all humility, fondness and dedication about the very Source of the Creation.

Krishna describes this source with a note of absoluteness. It is that from which the entire universe including all the beings has emerged. How high then should the seeker’s imagination rise! It is not just the source of oneself, his family or even the entire denizens of earth. The seeker has to think far wider and deeper. He has to reflect upon and comprehend the supreme Source from which has emerged all existence – planets, heavenly bodies and the five elements (pañca-bhūtas).

Krishna says that this Source is not distant to anyone. Though time-wise It is ancient, It permeates and pervades the entire range of existence. That means, the seeker need not feel dissuaded, thinking that It is inaccessible.

Such deep contemplation will naturally expand the thinking mind and the seeker is bound to feel humble. How does one express his obeisance and allegiance to It? Is it by placing some flowers, or through naivedyam (offering of some objects)? The pious resignation should be of a much deeper and broader kind. It should touch and involve the heart and mind of the seeker. How will it take place? What is the right means for it?

Worshipping the all-pervading Source

Practices of worship have a basic constriction, misunderstanding, resulting from lack of right introspection. The supreme Presence one seeks to worship is, he feels, not in the flower or in the places lying between the shrine and the flower garden but only in the chosen idol at home or in a temple. It implies a grave lack of introspection, and also concern for what one does. The dearth of purity and sublimity is evident.

Krishna wants the seeker to understand the limitation and redress it as soon as possible. A seeker must always be given to vicāra, enquiry and evaluation. That is why he makes it clear that true worship has an entirely different note and rationale, which he delineates emphatically.

The commencing line of the verse “yataḥ pravṛttiḥ bhūtānām – from which or from where have emerged all beings”, is thus very suggestive. Krishna adds “yena sarvam-idam tatam”. This pinpoints that the same Presence is not merely the Source of all existence, but also interpenetrates, permeates, the entire creation. This clearly implies that the supreme Presence sought to be worshipped, contemplated upon and reached, equally pervades the seeker’s body, his personality. In fact, is it not even in the flower and the plant, in the ground from where the plant has sprouted and also in the one that plucks and offers the flower piously, as much as in the idol or picture he worships?

Can you ever worship such an all-pervading Source by a flower or any other customary offering, however well chosen it may be?

Ascent in devotional pursuit

What is the right way then? Krishna answers in the next line: sva-karmaṇā tam-abhyarcya – by worshipping that Source in and through all your activities. Right from the moment of waking up in the morning, performing one’s ablutions, bathing, reading any material relevant to one’s life and profession, taking meals, going to the place of work, attending to domestic routines, interacting with people – all these, whether personal, professional or social, small or big, should be rightly included in the process and content of worship.

It should not be that during the half an hour session with the Idol, one feels devotional and during the rest of the day his attitude becomes different. The whole range of one’s activities should constitute worship, ensuring that devotion and worship remain ceaseless. This alone will make the seeker a wholesome devotee and win for him an unbreakable connection with the supreme Reality. Such ceaseless worship will take any human to spiritual perfection, says Krishna summarily.

Here, Krishna specifies a significant ascent in devotional pursuit. Earlier, he had referred to material offerings, explaining that they could be a means to elevate the seeker and purify his mind and intelligence. A leaf, flower, fruit or even water would suffice for the purpose, he said, when the offering is well smeared with devotion (9.26). The thing offered is not what matters. For, the supreme Reality does not need any of them at all! The offering is an effort, a religious process, meant to lead the one who offers, to his goal. ‘Devotionalizing’ the thing offered is the prime factor in the whole process.

But now, in this verse, Krishna does not mention the material part at all. He expects the devotee to outlive all such constricted practices. No external or additional item finds place here. Instead, all that one does from day-break should constitute the devotional content and offering. From a piecemeal worship, Krishna lifts the seeker to the level of wholesome devotion. The difference is marked and the seeker should not miss it.

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