Devotee: In Srimad Bhagavad-gita, Krishna has explained about karma-yoga. Can karma-yoga ever be seva, or devotional service?
Srila Govinda Maharaj: Karma and seva, action and divine service, are identical fr om the external perspective. Bhakti-yoga and karma-yoga are the same apart fr om one thing, and that is the inner mood of the practitioner. The inner intention is the all-important, differentiating factor. What result is going solely to the Lord, and not to the jiva-soul, that is called bhakti-yoga. When all of one’s work will be accredited in the account of Krishna, then that is bhakti-yoga. And when the result of one’s work is credited to the account of that jiva-soul, then that is karma-yoga. It is very simple.
yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad arpanam
«Whatever you will do for Me, you will not be responsible for any reaction you accrue from that.» Karma is giving reaction. Newton’s third law is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Many of Newton’s laws have been disputed and even broken, but this law still exists unchallenged. It is not only Newton’s law, but it is the law of the Gita, of the Vedic scriptures. We are living within the plane of exploitation, otherwise no reaction could come. That is, we are exploiting and exploited within this plane, and so reaction is always coming to us. Once, just after the war of Kuruksetra, a rsi from near Kashmir named Utanka came before Krishna with a view to curse Him: «You are the cause of the violence in Kuruksetra. If You had wanted to, You could have easily controlled the situation and prevented it, but You did not. Now millions of women have been widowed as a result of that battle, and I cannot tolerate to hear them cry. You are the cause, and so I shall curse You.»
Krishna smilingly replied, «O rsi, please give a little hearing to Me. You have amassed so much subtle power through your austerity, your tapasya, but that will be useless if you throw your curse upon Me. I am existing in the plane of nirguna, the non-material plane, so your curse will not touch Me. All your austerity, tapasya, everything you have acquired, it is all within this material world. It may reach up to the highest plane of this world, Brahmaloka, but it cannot touch My position. It will be futile, and you will lose everything, so I advise you not to curse Me. Please heed My advice to you. I am giving you this knowledge so that you will see who I am.»
Then with folded hands that rsi took shelter of Krishna, «Now I can see, and You have saved all of my tapasya.» That is the plane of nirguna, and playing there is devotion