Śrī Rājīva Uvāca:-
[Śrī Rajiiv Spoke]:-

[It is said that Śrī Śaṅkara preached the importance of spiritual knowledge for salvation. It is also said that Śrī Rāmānuja preached that devotion and self-surrender lead to salvation. Coming to Śrī Madhva, scholars say that He preached that spiritual knowledge and devotion are the paths to salvation. You say that Śrī Madhva preached about Karma Yoga or practical service and sacrifice. What is the real path of salvation preached by Śrī Madhva?]

Śrī Datta Bhagavān Uvāca:-
[God Śrī Datta Spoke]:-

[The devotion takes place in two steps as per the scholars:- i) Theoretical devotion and ii) Practical devotion. From theory only, practice is generated. In both theoretical and practical devotions, the devotion is common and one and the same.]

[If Śrī Madhva preached Jñāna and Bhakti alone, it would just become a repetition of the two paths told by Śrī Śaṅkara and Śrī Rāmānuja. If this is the case, one has to say that Śrī Madhva did not contribute any new path for salvation. This would mean that the third path is not told by Śrī Madhva. But, after knowledge and devotion, Karma Yoga or practice exists and therefore, Śrī Madhva preached Karma Yoga or practice only.]

[From spiritual knowledge, devotion is born. From devotion, practice arises. For this sequence, there are several examples seen in the world.]

[When you hear the details of Mumbai city, due to that knowledge, you will develop an attraction or devotion to see Mumbai city. After such attraction, you will develop the final third step, which is to travel to Mumbai city. After this, you will get the result of seeing the Mumbai city.]

[The spiritual knowledge is like water without which the plant dies. The devotion is like fertilizer without which the plant will not grow to yield the fruit. The practice or Karma Yoga is like the mango plant that alone gives the fruit. Only the practical journey to Mumbai and the mango plant representing practice give the final fruit.]

[The practice or Karma Yoga takes place in two steps:- i) The actual practice, which is the donation of a form of physical energy called work or service and ii) The donation or sacrifice of the fruit of work called money or wealth that is earned by doing hard work. Between these two, which is more valuable? The sacrifice is more valuable than service. This can be proved scientifically. A lot of energy condensed becomes a very small matter-particle as per E=mc².]

[The Veda says that sacrifice of money alone leads to salvation (Dhanena tyāgenaike…). But such wealth need not be self-earned wealth, which might have come from the ancestors, the value of which may not be properly known. The Gītā says that self-earned wealth shall be donated to God because self-earned wealth is more valuable for anybody than the wealth given by ancestors.]

[Devotion is theoretical, whereas practice is practical. Practice is the proof of the theoretical love or devotion. This point is not only a fact in the spiritual line but also a fact in the worldly line. The more love you possess for somebody, the more wealth you will give to that somebody. The theoretical love is proved by practice only.]

[The donation of physical energy in the name of service is to be done by a saint because he/she is not capable of doing the sacrifice of wealth since the saint lives by begging. The householder must donate both service and sacrifice because householders are capable of doing both.]

[The Gita says that the sacrifice of the fruit of your own hard work is the end of all your spiritual efforts. Therefore, the final practical step is only the sacrifice of the earned fruit of hard work. This does not mean that God is pleased based on the value of the fruit of work. God is actually pleased by the possible sacrifice of the fruit of work done by a soul.]

[The flattened rice given by Sudāmā to God Kṛṣṇa became equal to unlimited wealth. The flattened rice given by poor Sudāmā became equal to fourteen upper and lower worlds.]

[The sacrifice of the fruit of work shall not be counted by its value. The poor Saktuprastha attained salvation by giving four meals to God, who came in the form of a guest.]

[You should not evaluate the sacrifice of fruit of work by the value of the donated item. You shall evaluate by the percentage of the donated item relative to the whole possessed wealth. A beggar giving one rupee is an unimaginable donor, whereas a rich fellow donating a thousand rupees is not even a considerable donor.]

[God Kṛṣṇa sang in the Bhagavad Gītā that the sacrifice of everything possessed by you to God is called by scholars as ‘tyāga’ or real sacrifice. Such sacrifice is called as ‘self-surrender’.]

[Some devotees belonging to sweet devotion say that the physical body is also the fruit of the soul’s previous deeds, through which the fruits of meritorious deeds and sinful deeds done in the past are to be enjoyed here in this birth. They interpret that surrender of the body to the human form of God is also called as the sacrifice of the fruit of work (fruit of work = fruit of deeds). They interpret this way because of their aspiration for temporary physical happiness. Here, while stating ‘trikaraṇams’, they say that the body is included. But, apart from the body, the work done by the body is also included. The usage of ‘trikaraṇams’ exists as ‘Vāṅ manaḥ karmabhiḥ’ (Raghuvaṃśa), where karma (work done by body) is mentioned instead of Kāya (body).]

[The monkeys were fighting on the side of God Rāma and they were ready for the horrible torture of their bodies and final death in the war! This is the greatest sacrifice of the fruit of work (fruit of work = physical body). Before this sacrifice of fruit of work, what is the value of the sacrifice of fruit of work said in the above context of sweet devotion?]

[The meaning of the word ‘Niṣkāma Karma Yoga’ that was frequently sung in the Bhagavad Gītā is doing sacrifice of the fruit of work without aspiring for anything in return from God. This is like gold scented with a very good flavour. The Karma Yoga itself is gold. Doing Karma Yoga without aspiring for anything in return is scented gold. More than this, what is required for God to become pleased with you?]

[Without aspiring for anything in return, if you serve beggars, this kind of service will also be a path to serve God without aspiring for anything in return. If you do this service to beggars, God is so much pleased that such pleasure is called as infinite bliss (Brahmānanda).]

[O greatest scholar! Practice is greater than knowledge and devotion. Fruit is always linked to practice only. There is no other spiritual effort than sacrificing the fruit of work as praised in the Bhagavad Gītā (Yastu karma phala tyāgī, sa tyāgī tyabhi dhīyate| Karmajaṃ buddhi yuktā hi, phalaṃ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ…- Gītā).]

Iti Śrī Datta Svāmi viracita Śrī Rājīva Gītāyāṃ Bhakti Vicāra Yogo Nāma Dvādaśādhyāyaḥ |

[Like this, in Shri Rājīva Gītā, composed by His Holiness Shri Datta Swami, the Twelfth Chapter called ‘The Association of Enquiry of the Devotion to God’ is completed.]