Is Pravritti The Same As Pravritti-Marga

“Actions which are performed in terms of the directions of the scriptures are called pravritti, or actions that deserve to be performed, and actions which are not so directed are not to be performed. One who does not know the scriptural directions becomes entangled in the actions and reactions of work. Understanding which discriminates by intelligence is situated in the mode of goodness.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 18.30 Purport)

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“Forgive my ignorance on the matter, but I sometimes get confused with the many Sanskrit terms presented in the science of self-realization. Admittedly, I am getting better. I have a firm grasp on the difference between jivatma and paramatma, for instance. I know that there is the often invoked literary tool for comparison consisting of the Sanskrit words yatha and tatha. Take an anchor principle. That is your yatha. Then extend that same principle to explain something that is more difficult to understand. The extension is the tatha. We see this in the well-known verse explaining life after death, through the comparison of the changing bodies.

देहिनो ऽस्मिन् यथा देहे
कौमारं यौवनं जरा
तथा देहान्तर-प्राप्तिर्
धीरस् तत्र न मुह्यति

dehino ‘smin yathā dehe
kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir
dhīras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.13)

“One recent point of confusion relates to this term called pravritti. I think I found it as part of a verse in Bhagavad-gita. There seems to always be a corresponding term, to complete the pair. With pravritti, the other side is nivritti. I always took this to mean that one is positive action and the other is negative action. Pravritti is stuff that we do and nivritti is stuff that we don’t do.

“At the same time, I come across snippets of teachings where pravritti is the negative. It is something to avoid. The teacher says that pravritti-marga is for the animals. Nivritti-marga is for the human beings. Can you explain what I am missing here? The dual-sidedness is confusing.”

Pravritti and nivritti indeed appear as a pair in a verse from Bhagavad-gita, to help explain intelligence that falls into the mode of goodness. This is sattva-guna, and it is like a level or platform of living. Intelligence can be sattva-guna, and so can charity, sacrifice, and even the consistency of the body itself. The sura class, for instance, has bodies in the mode of goodness. That is why they have amazing abilities and take residence in a higher realm.

प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च कार्याकार्ये भयाभये
बन्धं मोक्षं च या वेत्ति बुद्धि: सा पार्थ सात्त्विकी

pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca
kāryākārye bhayābhaye
bandhaṁ mokṣaṁ ca yā vetti
buddhiḥ sā pārtha sāttvikī

“O son of Pritha, that understanding by which one knows what ought to be done and what ought not to be done, what is to be feared and what is not to be feared, what is binding and what is liberating, that understanding is established in the mode of goodness.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.30)

In this context, pravritti is positive action. It is like moving forward with something. It is engaging. It is locking the senses onto external objects, through the conduit of the sense acquiring organs. Putting on headphones to hear music. Placing food in the mouth to stimulate taste. Sitting on the bench with your teammates in a hockey game, passing around a smelling salt to increase alertness.

Nivritti is the opposite. It is like shutting off a valve. Staying away from something. A vow of silence, mauna-vrata, is quintessential nivritti. It is intentionally avoiding the urge to speak. In the tradition of spirituality descending from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and mercifully shared with the world through the efforts of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, there are the four regulative principles. This is the implementation of nivritti in a formal sense, in the attempt to avoid eating meat, sitting at the gambling table, chasing after women, and consuming substances for the purpose of intoxication.

A human being follows pravritti and nivritti on a constant basis; almost like breathing in and out. Through each and every day. Adjusted for the seasons, as well. I might have the urge to play a certain sport, but at the moment I cannot. It is raining outside. Perhaps the temperatures are too low, due to the winter season. Therefore, I have to refrain; I have to cap the indulgence.

Marga refers to a path or road. Goswami Tulsidas uses this word to explain how devotees of the Supreme Lord transcend their societal status that is otherwise limited by the circumstances of birth. He makes the comparison to the trees that line the roads in the heavenly region. The streets are like the best pathways, raja-marga, and along the route so many trees will be seen from either side. You can take the smallest, most insignificant tree and understand that it is still like a kalpa-vriksha, or tree that fulfills desires. This is because that tree is in the heavenly region. In the same way, the person worshiping the Supreme Lord through chanting His name, such as Rama, is worthy of fame and honor no matter where they are or what caste they belong to.

राम नाम सुमिरत सुजस भाजन भए कुजाति
कुतरूक सुरपुर राजमग लहत भुवन बिख्याति

rāma nāma sumirata sujasa bhājana bhae kujāti
kutarūka surapura rājamaga lahata bhuvana bikhyāti

“By remembering Shri Rama’s holy name, even those who are born into a low caste become worthy of fame, just as the wild trees that line the roads in the heavenly realm are famous throughout the three worlds.” (Dohavali, 16)

Pravritti-marga is thus the path of pravritti, or positive action. The context is engaging the senses. A similar term might be bhoga-marga. The idea is to constantly enjoy. Targeting the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Always enjoying something, like wine, women, money, or expensive travel. Pravritti-marga is something like the natural way, in the absence of education. It is the condition into which we fall based on the circumstances of accepting a temporary body.

Nivritti-marga is the corrective measure. This is the immediate fix, in terms of breaking the tendency for enjoying. Nivritti-marga is for the human population, because only the human being has the rational thought to deliberate upon their choices. Only the human being can see that there are different margas, or paths to follow. After sufficient education, they can choose to follow nivritti-marga, for reaching a higher standard of living.

Nivritti-marga might still involve pravritti, in the sense of positive action. Someone is following spiritual life by recognizing the futility of constantly agitating the senses, ajitendriyah. They have set a different goal, but there is still positive action. The seeker still uses their eyes. They see the beautiful deity in the system of formal worship. They use their ears to hear transcendental sound vibrations. They use the organ for taste to reproduce such sounds. They even eat, but in a spiritual way. They take what remains after offering food to God. This kind of food has been blessed. It is a benediction of mercy, prasadam.

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं
यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति
तद् अहं भक्त्य्-उपहृतम्
अश्नामि प्रयतात्मनः

patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyaṁ
yo me bhaktyā prayacchati
tad ahaṁ bhakty-upahṛtam
aśnāmi prayatātmanaḥ

“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.26)

Whether we label it nivritti-marga, bhagavata-dharma, sanatana-dharma, or bhakti-yoga, the goal is always transcendence. The goal is different from the natural tendency, which has been firmly set in the ground, like a tall pillar, established over many previous lifetimes. The time is now to wake up, to realize that a different path exists, and to set foot in that path and never deviate from the route established by those who wish us well, forever and always.

बिगरी जनम अनेक की सुधरै अबहीं आजु
होहि राम को नाम जपु तुलसी तजि कुसमाजु

bigarī janama aneka kī sudharai abahīṃ āju
hohi rāma ko nāma japu tulasī taji kusamāju

“The many past births you spoiled can be rectified right now, today, if you start chanting Shri Rama’s holy name and renounce bad association, says Tulsi.” (Dohavali, 22)

In Closing:

Those always wishing us well,
Of a different path to tell.

Despite firmly in the ground,
Pravritti tendency abound.

Now the chance for healing,
Renounced but senses appealing.

Watch, read, eat, or chant,
Elevation to higher plane to grant.