Karma-kāṇḍa
Karma-kāṇḍa · karma-kāṇḍa, “the section on rites”
Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of karma (rite, action) and kāṇḍa (section, part): “the section on rites”.
Meaning: the part of the Veda that enjoins the rites, the yajñas and the karmas done for their fruits; it stands with the devatā-kāṇḍa and the jñāna-kāṇḍa.
In the scriptures: Nārada Maharshi, explaining to Prācīnabarhisha the account of Purañjana, says that a man who hears the Veda in the form of the karma-kāṇḍa and performs karmas goes after death by the Pitṛyāna, the path of the pitṛs; this karma-kāṇḍa is what the account calls Dakshiṇa Pañcāla, South Pañcāla. The jñāna-kāṇḍa, which leads by the Devayāna, is Uttara Pañcāla (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 29).
Śrī Śuka Maharshi, describing the autumn in Vraja, says that when the mind has fully turned from attachment to karma, the contemplative sādhaka turns away from the study of the karma-kāṇḍa; so when autumn came the ocean lost its great motion and was silent (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 20).
Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava that the supreme intent of the karma-kāṇḍa, the devatā-kāṇḍa and the jñāna-kāṇḍa is the non-difference of Brahman and the ātmā, and that only he knows what the Vedic speech enjoins in the karma-kāṇḍa: “The yajña that the Veda enjoins in the karma-kāṇḍa is I Myself. All the forms of devatās that the Veda teaches in the devatā-kāṇḍa are I Myself” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 21).
Related terms: Jñāna-kāṇḍa · Karma · Yajña · Veda · Pitṛyāna
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 4, Chapter 29; Skandha 10, Chapter 20; Skandha 11, Chapter 21