काङ् क्षन्त: कर्मणां सिद्धिं यजन्त इह देवता: |
क्षिप्रं हि मानुषे लोके सिद्धिर्भवति कर्मजा || 12||
kāṅkṣhantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ yajanta iha devatāḥ
kṣhipraṁ hi mānuṣhe loke siddhir bhavati karmajā
kāṅkṣhantaḥ—desiring; karmaṇām—material activities; siddhim—success; yajante—worship; iha—in this world; devatāḥ—the celestial gods; kṣhipram—quickly; hi—certainly; mānuṣhe—in human society; loke—within this world; siddhiḥ—rewarding; bhavati—manifest; karma-jā—from material activities
Translation:
Longing for success in action, in this world, (men) worship the deities. For success is quickly attained through action in this world of Man.
Commentary:
The Lord declares that in this world success is quickly attained by man for the work that he does. So men worship the Devas like Indra, Varuna etc., and offer sacrifices to them, and the fruits of such works are quickly attained and enjoyed. All the other worlds are places of enjoyment resulting from the work done here. The earth is the world of action (Karma Bhumi) for good or evil. Men attain Heaven or Hell according to the good or evil done by them in this world. When that experience is over, they take birth once again in this world. So this is the centre for spiritual realisation. Let all the seekers take to good work, purify their minds, and attain Knowledge.
If the sick man does not cure himself where is medicine for his disease, what can he do when he goes to a place where there is no medicine? So the wise man should undertake some form of spiritual discipline in this world and attain liberation from the disease of birth and death.
People longing for worldly success worship minor gods or angels, who also are manifestations of the Lord. But on account of their selfish motives, their mode of worship is characterized by the attitude that the devotee and the god are two different beings. “He who, on the other hand, worships a separate god, thinking, ‘He is separate from me and I am separate from him’— he knows not. He is to the gods as cattle are to men.” (Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, I, iv, 10) Worldly success is quickly and easily attained, but not so Self-knowledge. Therefore people do not seek the latter.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
They are good-natured, kind, and truthful. All is right with them, but that enjoyment is their God. It is a country where money flows like a river, with beauty as its ripple and learning its waves, and which rolls in luxury. “Longing for success in action, in this world, (men) worship the deities. For success is quickly attained through action in this world of man.” Here you have a wonderful manifestation of grit and power — what strength, what practicality, and what manhood! Horses huge as elephants are drawing carriages that are as big as houses. You may take this as a specimen of the gigantic proportions in other things also. Here is a manifestation of tremendous energy.[Source]
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.88.8-11
8. The worshipful Lord said: He on whom I am going to bestow my grace, I slowly deprive him of all his wealth. When his wealth is gone, his friends and kith and kin desert him, making him sink into utmost sorrow and despair.
9. When his further efforts to gain wealth also fail, thanks to My will, he becomes filled with dispassion and gets association with My devotees. On such a one I bestow My grace.
10. For this reason people do not adore Me, the Supreme Brahman, who is extremely subtle, being of the nature of pure Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, unlimited and impossible to be conceived with an impure heart. Men therefore adopt usually the worship of other deities.
11. As a consequence, they obtain soon from those easily propitiated deities kingdom, wealth and such worldly blessings and become so filled with arrogance and infatuation thereby that they forget themselves to the extent of disregarding and becoming oblivious even of the deity who favoured them.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 4 🔻 (42 Verses)
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