Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.10.22
అన్తరాయైరవిహితో యది ధర్మ: స్వనుష్ఠిత: ।
తేనాపి నిర్జితం స్థానం యథా గచ్ఛతి తచ్ఛృణు ॥ ౨౨ ॥
antarāyair avihito
[antaraayair avihito]
yadi dharmaḥ sv-anuṣṭhitaḥ
[yadi dharmah sv-anushthitah]
tenāpi nirjitaṁ sthānaṁ
[tenaapi nirjitam sthaanam]
yathā gacchati tac chṛṇu
[yathaa gachchati tach chrinu]
Word-for-word
antarāyaiḥ
—
by obstacles and discrepancies
avihitaḥ
—
not affected
yadi
—
if
dharmaḥ
—
one’s execution of regulated duties according to Vedic injunctions
sv-anuṣṭhitaḥ
—
excellently performed
tena
—
by that
api
—
even
nirjitam
—
accomplished
sthānam
—
status
yathā
—
the manner in which
gacchati
—
it perishes
tat
—
that
śṛṇu
—
please hear.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
antarāyair avihito
antarāyaiḥ
by obstacles and discrepancies
avihitaḥ
not affected
yadi dharmaḥ sv-anuṣṭhitaḥ
yadi
if
dharmaḥ
one’s execution of regulated duties according to Vedic injunctions
sv-anuṣṭhitaḥ
excellently performed
tenāpi nirjitaṁ sthānaṁ
tena
by that
api
even
nirjitam
accomplished
sthānam
status
yathā gacchati tac chṛṇu
yathā
the manner in which
gacchati
it perishes
tat
that
śṛṇu
please hear.
If one performs Vedic sacrifices and fruitive rituals without any mistake or contamination, one will achieve a heavenly situation in the next life. But even this result, which is only achieved by perfect performance of fruitive rituals, will be vanquished by time. Now hear of this.
Purport
The word gacchati means “going.” In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa states, āgamāpāyino ’nityāḥ: all material experiences, good or bad, come and go. Therefore the word gacchati refers to the disappearance of the results of even the most meticulously performed fruitive sacrifices. Any material situation, from the worst to the best, is imperfect. Thus one should strive only for pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura
Gauḍīya
Translation
If one performs Vedic rites without any mistake, even this result, which is only achieved by perfect performances, will be vanquished by time. Now hear of this.
Even if one performs acts without discrepancies, one cannot eliminate suffering. This is explained in five verses. Nirjitam means “accomplished.”
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Even flawlessly performed Vedic rituals win only a heavenly seat that time will surely strip away — only pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness endures.
Practical Applications
- Notice one ambition today whose payoff is temporary, and ask Kṛṣṇa to redirect that energy into sādhana.
- Offer your most successful task this week to Kṛṣṇa before celebrating it, so the fruit is not banked as your own credit.
- Refuse to negotiate with yourself for a 'better material situation' as the real goal — name it as a heavenly seat that will be vanquished.
Reflection Questions
- Which 'heavenly situation' — promotion, retirement, recognition — am I quietly working toward as if it were not subject to time?
- Where am I doing dharma meticulously but still aiming at fruits, and what would the same action look like as bhakti?
For Each Age Group
youth
- Name the one exam result, internship, or follower count you are treating as a 'heavenly situation,' and offer that effort to Kṛṣṇa before the result arrives.
- When peers measure each other by placements and packages, refuse the frame inwardly — study hard, but for service, not for a seat that time will strip.
- Pick one daily sādhana — japa, reading, or hearing — and protect it more fiercely than your grades, because only that result will not be vanquished.
householder
- Re-examine the family's biggest current goal — house, school admission, promotion — and ask spouse and children whether it is being pursued as a fruit or as service.
- When a career win arrives, formally offer it at the family altar that evening, so the children see fruits being placed at Kṛṣṇa's feet rather than hoarded.
- Cut one fruitive activity this month that is meticulously performed but aimed at a perishable status, and redirect those hours to congregational hearing and chanting.
senior
- Look honestly at the 'heavenly situation' you spent decades building — pension, reputation, property — and begin to loosen your grip while the choice is still yours.
- Mentor a younger devotee using this verse, showing them through your own life what the vanquishing of fruits actually feels like.
- Reorganize your remaining time around what does not perish — chanting, hearing, and serving devotees — and let lesser meticulous routines fall away.
Common Pitfalls
- Hearing 'rituals are temporary' and slackening one's sādhana, instead of purifying its motive.
- Treating Kṛṣṇa consciousness as merely a better technique for the same material goals one had before.
- Confusing the verse's critique of fruitive ritual with a license to dismiss varṇāśrama duties altogether.
Discussion Prompts
- Share a 'heavenly situation' you have already attained and lost — what did its disappearance teach you about gacchati?
- Where in our community do we still subtly reward fruitive performance over pure devotion, and how would we know the difference?
- If even perfect ritual is vanquished by time, what makes bhakti different in kind, not just in degree — and can we say it in plain language?
Role Play
A diligent student has spent five years perfecting daily rituals and is now offered a prestigious post at a temple that would secure family status and a comfortable old age. One classmate plays the student weighing the offer; another plays a senior devotee using this verse to help them examine whether the goal is a heavenly seat or pure service to Kṛṣṇa.
Objections & Responses
- If everything material is vanquished by time anyway, why bother performing duties carefully at all?
The verse does not condemn careful performance — it condemns aiming at fruits that time will erase. Perform sva-dharma meticulously, but offer it to Kṛṣṇa; then the action becomes bhakti and is not vanquished with the body. - This sounds like world-denying pessimism — modern life requires planning for a good future.
Kṛṣṇa is not asking you to stop planning; He is asking you to stop mistaking a time-bound result for the actual goal. Plan as a steward, work as an offering, and the same actions that once bought a vanishing heaven now build something that does not vanish.
My note
Source: vedabase.io