Text 78
idaṁ yaḥ kalya utthāya
prāñjaliḥ śraddhayānvitaḥ
śṛṇuyāc chrāvayen martyo
mucyate karma-bandhanaiḥ
idam — this prayer; yaḥ — a devotee who; kalye — early in the morning; utthāya — after getting up from bed; prāñjaliḥ — with folded hands; śraddhayā — with faith and devotion; anvitaḥ — thus being absorbed; śṛṇuyāt — personally chants and hears; śrāvayet — and gets others to hear; martyaḥ — such a human being; mucyate — becomes freed; karma-bandhanaiḥ — from all kinds of actions resulting from fruitive activities.
A devotee who rises early in the morning and with folded hands chants these prayers sung by Lord Śiva, and gives facility to others to hear them, certainly becomes free from all bondage to fruitive activities.
Mukti, or liberation, means becoming free from the results of fruitive activities. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.10.6), muktir hitvānyathā-rūpam svarupeṇa vyavasthitiḥ: mukti means giving up all other activities and being situated in one’s constitutional position. In this conditional state, we are entangled by one fruitive activity after another. Karma-bandhana means “the bonds of fruitive activity.” As long as one’s mind is absorbed in fruitive activities, he has to manufacture plans for happiness. The bhakti-yoga process is different, for bhakti-yoga means acting according to the order of the supreme authority. When we act under the direction of supreme authority, we do not become entangled by fruitive results. For instance, Arjuna fought because the Supreme Personality of Godhead wanted him to; therefore he was not responsible for the outcome of the fighting. As far as devotional service is concerned, even hearing and chanting is as good as acting with our body, mind and senses. Actually, hearing and chanting are also activities of the senses. When the senses are utilized for one’s own sense gratification, they entangle one in karma, but when they are used for the satisfaction of the Lord, they establish one in bhakti.