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Lord Krishna is completely pure of any material desires and detached. This is a very important point to
understand if one wants to be liberated from illusion and work steadfastly for the Lord. The Lord emphasizes
this point.
na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti / na me karma-phale spṛhā
iti māṁ yo ’bhijānāti / karmabhir na sa badhyate
There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about
Me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work. (Bg. 4.14)
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada writes:
As there are constitutional laws in the material world stating that the king can do no wrong, or that the king is
not subject to the state laws, similarly the Lord, although He is the creator of this material world, is not affected
by the activities of the material world. He creates and remains aloof from the creation, whereas the living entities
are entangled in the fruitive results of material activities because of their propensity for lording it over material
resources. The proprietor of an establishment is not responsible for the right and wrong activities of the workers,
but the workers are themselves responsible. The living entities are engaged in their respective activities of sense
gratification, and these activities are not ordained by the Lord. For advancement of sense gratification, the living
entities are engaged in the work of this world, and they aspire to heavenly happiness after death. The Lord, being
full in Himself, has no attraction for so-called heavenly happiness. The heavenly demigods are only His engaged
servants. The proprietor never desires the low-grade happiness such as the workers may desire. He is aloof from
the material actions and reactions. For example, the rains are not responsible for different types of vegetation
that appear on the earth, although without such rains there is no possibility of vegetative growth. Vedic smṛti
confirms this fact as follows:
nimitta-mātram evāsau / sṛjyānāṁ sarga-karmaṇi
pradhāna-kāraṇī-bhūtā / yato vai sṛjya-śaktayaḥ
In the material creations, the Lord is only the supreme cause. The immediate cause is material nature, by which
the cosmic manifestation is made visible.” The created beings are of many varieties, such as the demigods,
human beings and lower animals, and all of them are subject to the reactions of their past good or bad activities.
The Lord only gives them the proper facilities for such activities and the regulations of the modes of nature, but
He is never responsible for their past and present activities. In the Vedānta-sūtra (2.1.34) it is confirmed,
vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇye na sāpekṣatvāt: the Lord is never partial to any living entity. The living entity is responsible
for his own acts. The Lord only gives him facilities, through the agency of material nature, the external energy.
Anyone who is fully conversant with all the intricacies of this law of karma, or fruitive activities, does not become
affected by the results of his activities. In other words, the person who understands this transcendental nature
of the Lord is an experienced man in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and thus he is never subjected to the laws of karma.
One who does not know the transcendental nature of the Lord and who thinks that the activities of the Lord are
aimed at fruitive results, as are the activities of the ordinary living entities, certainly becomes entangled himself
in fruitive reactions. But one who knows the Supreme Truth is a liberated soul fixed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. (Bg
4.14 – purport)
The living entity by his desire to avoid the authority of the transcendent Lord subjects himself to bondage by
the laws of karma in the endless cycle of suffering. The brief periods of sensual satisfaction one experiences are
the ultimate enemy of the living entity, who thinks that such gratification makes all the suffering and stress of
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