Text 34] Narada’s Instructions on Srimad-Bhagavatam 269

very same milk converted into curd and mixed with some other remedial
ingredients cures such disorders. Similarly, the threefold miseries of mate-
rial existence cannot be mitigated simply by material activities. Such
activities have to be spiritualized, just as by fire iron is made red-hot, and
thereby the action of fire begins. Similarly, the material conception of a
thing is at once changed as soon as it is put into the service of the Lord.
That is the secret of spiritual success. We should not try to lord it over the
material nature, nor should we reject material things. The best way to make
the best use of a bad bargain is to use everything in relation with the su-
preme spiritual being. Everything is an emanation from the supreme spirit,
and by His inconceivable power He can convert spirit into matter and
matter into spirit. Therefore a material thing (so-called) is at once turned
into a spiritual force by the great will of the Lord. The necessary condi-
tion for such a change is to employ so-called matter in the service of the
spirit. That is the way to treat our material diseases and elevate ourselves
to the spiritual plane where there is no misery, no lamentation and no fear.
When everything is thus employed in the service of the Lord, we can ex-
perience that there is nothing except the Supreme Brahman. The Vedic
mantra that “everything is Brahman” is thus realized by us.

TEXT 34

ud sot fearaim: aa dafaeaa: |
aq Taafraras Heaed Beta: FT WV

evam nynam kriya-yogah
sarve samsrti-hetavah
ta evatma-vindsaya

kalpante kalpitah pare

evam—thus; nrnadm—of the human being; krnya-yogah—all activities;
sarve—everything; samsrti—material existence; hetavah—causes; te—that;
eva—certainly; dtma—the tree of work; vinasaya—killing; kalpante—become
competent: kalpitah—dedicated; pare—unto the Transcendence.

TRANSLATION

Thus when all a man’s activities are dedicated to the service of the
Lord, those very activities which caused his bondage become the destroyer
of the tree of work.
