Gita 04.31 – Happiness in this world and the next don’t have to be mutually exclusive
nāyaṁ loko ’sty ayajñasya
kuto ’nyaḥ kuru-sattama
Word-to-word
na — never; ayam — this; lokaḥ — planet; asti — there is; ayajñasya — for one who performs no sacrifice; kutaḥ — where is; anyaḥ — the other; kuru-sat-tama — O best amongst the Kurus.
Translation
O best of the Kuru dynasty, without sacrifice one can never live happily on this planet or in this life: what then of the next?
Explanation
nāyaṁ loko ’sty ayajñasya – one who performs no sacrifice can never live happily on this planet or in this life
kuto ’nyaḥ kuru-sattama – O best of the Kuru dynasty, what then of the next?
It’s a very interesting question, in the sense that normally it is said that those who — that we can give up happiness in this world so that we can have happiness in the next world. That is the path of renunciation, the path of Jnana, the path of vairagya, where one lives a life of rigid abnegation in this world, by which one can become disentangled from a real existence, and then, when one attains the spiritual platform, then there is happiness.
The happiness in this world and happiness in the next world are considered to be mutually exclusive. If you get happiness in this world, then you won’t get happiness in the next world because the person who engages in gross sense edification — that person will often do wrong activities, and those wrong activities lead to a wrong destination.
On the other hand, if somebody doesn’t engage in sense-gratificatory activities, keeps regulated, that person can attain an auspicious destination because of the purification that comes by living a regulated life. If that is the case — that by regulation one attains purification, and by purification one attains elevation, and by elevation there is higher gratification, is higher satisfaction — because at the spiritual level there is eternal happiness. It’s far greater happiness because there is contact with the highest eternal spiritual reality.
The point which is important for us to consider is that some people give up happiness in this world so that they can have happiness in the next world. And there are others who are so enamored by the pleasures of this world that they don’t think about the next world at all. Therefore, they may get happiness in this world, but then they lose happiness in the next world.
So these are normally, in many conventional religious narratives — the happiness of this world and the happiness of the next world — considered to be mutually exclusive. But rather, this verse is talking something entirely different. It says that, if they don’t have happiness even in this world, what then to speak of the next?
We use “what then to speak of” something else when the two objects are related — the first being like the foundation of the second, or the first being a lower thing and the second being a higher thing. For example, if I say that he doesn’t have enough money to purchase even a one-BHK flat, what to speak of a row house — that means what is given in the first category and in the second category are both similar, but what is given in the second category is much bigger. But the two are in the same category.
Normally, we think of happiness in this world and happiness in the next world as not two in the same category, but as two in different categories. Why is Krishna sort of placing them in the same category here by stating that they won’t have happiness in this world or happiness in the next world — or what to speak of in the next world?
For this, we have to go a little deeper. It’s really late. If you look back in the third chapter, Krishna said in 3.9 onwards — 3.10 primarily — said that Yajna is the principle by which our needs can be fulfilled and also our long-term destination can be obtained.
If a person performs yajna properly, then he can attain an eternal destination. That person can get the worldly things. “By this, you will become prosperous in this life. This be your desire-fulfiller.”
Next verse, 3.11, says the devatas being satisfied by you and you being satisfied by the devatas, you can attain the long-term good — eternal good. Śreyaḥ param actually refers to the ultimate good. Shreya itself is long-term, and param is supreme. So, supreme long-term good — that is actually the spiritual well-being, not just material well-being.
In the process of Yajna, there is an internal pushing mechanism by which the person’s consciousness gets elevated, and the person ultimately moves towards ultimate liberation.
So, the point to understand here is that Krishna is talking about Yajna as foundational for happiness in this world as well as the next world. Now, in this world also we see that there is a cause-effect correlation at the broad level. Students who don’t study don’t get good marks in exams. Students who study, they do well in their careers. There can be exceptions, no doubt.
Some people, who have done a lot of good karma in their previous life — even if they do all kinds of nefarious activities — may stay, may not get caught in this life. And sometimes, some people who are upright campaigners for truth and morality, for truth and integrity — they may get sidelined. They may get marginalized. They may get caught. The important point is: they may get penalized, scapegoated.
So, the point is that sometimes you will not see a correlation between action and reaction in this world. And that is because we’ve to understand that past life karma is also coming into the picture. But in a general sense, we do see this correlation between action and reaction. Dharma produces Artha, and by Artha, Kama can be fulfilled.
Krishna is saying that if one does not do Punya, one will not get happiness even in this lifetime. We may not see this in Kaliyuga immediately at a physical level. Sometimes, you may see people are living godlessly and still they seem to be materially prosperous — seem to be quite well to do. But actually, the more we are distanced from God, the more we are mentally agitated. These people cannot be happy because they are turned away from Krishna.
The more a person is turned away from Krishna, the more that person is in Rajoguna and Tamoguna. And the more the person is in Rajo guna and Tamo guna, the more that person has an agitated mind which cannot be peaceful, which cannot be happy.
Although people may have prosperity, people may have comfort, but we shouldn’t think comforts and prosperity as necessarily equivalent with happiness. People can be living in luxurious lifestyle and still be so frustrated that they commit suicide or they get into depression.
The important point is to recognize that if one is disconnected, if one is not doing Yajna, if one does not have a connection with the Absolute Truth — one cannot have any real peace. Although one can make a show of happiness, there will not be any real peace or real happiness there.
And certainly, when one is not doing yajna, whatever stock of good karma one has — that is getting exhausted. And one is also acquiring bad karma. Because of the reaction to the bad karma, one will surely get reactions either in this life or certainly in the future life. And in that way, how can there be happiness for such a person?
In this verse, Krishna doesn’t use the word “happiness” specifically, but it’s implicit — because the quest for happiness is the most fundamental and defining quest among all human quests.
Without yajna, one will not have happiness in this lifetime because one will stay disconnected, disoriented, and dissatisfied due to disharmonization with the Absolute. Beyond that, because of the bad karma that one is doing, one is definitely going to get no happiness in the future — very little happiness, if any, happens in the future life — but by increasing the stockpile of bad karma, which will rebound on that person in the next lifetime.
In this way, Krishna, in these two verses — 30 and 31 — through two contrasting trajectories: one is that those who do Yajna, they will attain Brahma Sanatana. And those who do not do Yajna, they will get happiness neither in this nor next world. In this way, Krishna encourages Arjuna to perform Yajna.
Thank you
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