Mantra Two
19
not bind him to the law of karma. And there is no alternative to this way for man.
PURPORT
No one wants to die, and everyone wants to live for as long as he can drag on. This temperament is not only visible individually, but also it is visible collectively in the community, society and nation. There is a hard struggle for life in every class of living entities, and the  Veda  says that this is quite natural for the living being. The living being is eternal by nature, but due to his bondage in the material existence he has to change his body from one to another. This process is called transmigration of the soul. This transmigration is also called  Karma-bandhana , or being bound by one's own work. The living entity has to work for his livelihood because that is the law of material Nature, and if he does not act according to the prescribed duties of his particular life he transgresses the law of Nature, making himself bound more and more in the cycle of birth and death.
The cycle of birth and death is present in life other than the human form. When the living entity gets the chance for human life, however, it is his chance to get free from the chain of the law of  karma .  Karma ,  akarma , and  vikarma  are principles very clearly described in the  Bhagavad-gītā . Actions which are done in terms of the prescribed duties mentioned in the revealed Scriptures are called  karma . Actions which make one free from the cycle of birth and death are called  akarma . And actions which are performed by the misuse of one's freedom, thereby directing oneself toward the lower regions of life, are called  vikarma .
Of these three categories of activities, the one which makes one free from the cycle of further bondage to  karma  is preferred by intelligent men. Ordinary men want to perform good work in order to be recognized and to achieve some status of life in this world or in heaven, but more advanced men want to be free