Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.24.18
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sampūjayet
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should fully worship
Optative causative from sam + √pūj. Worship is now redirected at karma itself within the opponent's frame. The structure is rhetorical: Kṛṣṇa is leading Vraja toward the realization that what truly maintains them — the cows, the hill, Bhagavān — is what deserves pūjā.
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svabhāva - sthaḥ
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situated in one's own nature
Compound: svabhāva (own nature) + sthaḥ (situated). One must remain in the position one's nature has prepared. Gauḍīya pattern: varṇāśrama is honored as the soil of bhakti; bhakti grows in the field of svadharma, not by abandoning it for fashion.
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sva - karma - kṛt
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performing one's own duty
Compound: sva (own) + karma (duty) + kṛt (doer). The classic Gītā formula (Gītā 18.45–48). Each must do his own duty — vaiśya as vaiśya, gopa as gopa. Setting the stage for verse 21, where Kṛṣṇa names go-rakṣā as Vraja's actual svakarma.
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varteta
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may maintain himself
Optative middle of √vṛt. The 'turning by which one keeps going' — livelihood. The verse names the criterion: by what does one actually live? Worship that — because, in Vraja's case, the answer will turn out to be Govardhana and the cows, and through them Kṛṣṇa.
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daivatam
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worshipable deity
From devatā. Kṛṣṇa's pivot-word: the daivata is whatever genuinely sustains life. Gauḍīya hearing: the verse is at first the karma-mīmāṁsā position taken to its limit, and then — by chapter's end — that limit is broken open as Govardhana himself appears, and the true daivata of Vraja eats the offering.
Lord Kṛṣṇa here proposes the modern if absurd philosophy that our work or occupation is really God and that we should therefore simply worship our work. Upon close scrutiny, we observe that our work is nothing more than the interaction of the material body with material nature, as Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself states in a more serious mood, in the Bhagavad-gītā (3.28) : guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta. Karma-mīmāṁsā philosophy accepts that good activity in this life will give us a better next life. If this is true, there must be some type of conscious soul different from the body. And if that is the case, why should a transcendental soul worship the interaction of the temporary body with material nature? If the words sampūjayet karma here mean that one should worship the laws of karma governing our activities, then one may astutely ask what it means to worship laws and, indeed, what might be the origin of such laws and who is maintaining them. To say that laws have created or are maintaining the world is a meaningless proposition, since there is nothing about the nature of a law that indicates it could generate the existential situation it is supposed to govern. In fact, worship is meant for Kṛṣṇa Himself, and this real conclusion will be clearly revealed in this chapter.
Karma should be respected (sampujayet). Though karma in general should be respected, karma as the cause is also proved through scripture. Those situated in their varna such as brahmanas, perform actions according to that varna (svakarmakam). "But how can there be success of a sacrifice where ingredients are offered to the devatas without accepting the devatas?" "The devatas are only karmanga, secondary assistants to the karma itself, according to the philosophy of hetuvad (causality). In this way the devatas are reconciled. Karma, by which we live happily, is our deity."
Since action is the teacher and the controller (tasmāt), fixed in one’s nature, by such impressions in one’s nature, action is produced spontaneously (sva). From that perspective, one should worship action. Or since one’s nature is simply the initiator of actions, karma alone can be said to be the giver of results. Therefore, even if by some fault some other unsuitable thoughts enter the brāhmaṇa or others, one should with effort remain fixed in one’s nature, in one’s suitable thoughts and perform one’s suitable actions and worship that action which is one’s sustenance. One should not worship the devatās. This is explained next. One should perform action because (hi) that which allows one to live comfortably is one’s (asya) deity.
Since action is the teacher and the controller (tasmāt), by impressions in one’s nature, action is produced spontaneously (sva). This firmly rejects the inspiration of antaryāmī. Or one becomes absorbed in action in order to accomplish. Or absorb yourself in action in order to create the impressions or nature. “Karma should be worshipped according to previous impressions (svabhāva). Why should there be a rule to worship karma?” Thinking that everything is caused by action, one should perform one’s action (sva-karma-kṛt) (and that will situate a person in his svabhāva). By absorption in something else results cannot be achieved, because the action is incomplete. Action is necessary. (That is the worship). Or doing one’s actions according to one’s nature according to guṇas, one should simply worship action, not devatās controlling one’s nature. Or by rejecting going beyond one’s nature and attempting to learn someone else’s duties (svabhāva-sthaḥ) worship of work is shown to be superior to worship of devatās. Being situated in one’s nature and performing one’s duty is real worship. Or one should worship work because one is dependent on impressions (saṁskāras) and saṁskāras arise from actions or duties. Then one can enjoy the results of action (sva-karma-kṛt). That worship which allows one to live is proper. Therefore it is then said that one should perform action because (hi) that which allows one to live comfortably is one’s (asya) deity.
- Which 'thing that lets me live well' have I been worshiping as my real deity?
- Where could naming my idol expose how unsatisfying it actually is?
A weaver who tries to live by farming starves at both looms; the weaver who weaves with full attention is fed by the very work of his hands. Kṛṣṇa's instruction inside the karma-frame is precise: the work that actually sustains your life is itself the deity worth worshipping — not some absentee patron several offices away.
My note
Source: vedabase.io