In plain words
“Tasmai namaḥ karmaṇe”
“Karmānubandhīni manuṣya loke”: human life is subject to karma. You cannot remain even a moment without action. You must regard every action you do as worship offered to God. This is the path that is true and eternal. With this very thing in mind the Upaniṣad said, “Tasmai namaḥ karmaṇe”. “O deity of karma! I bow to you”: that is what it means. You must pray to the deity of karma that it may have you do good deeds. With the feeling, “May the action I do be sacred, a help to the welfare of the world, and win a good name,” you must first of all bow to the action you do. This is the chief message of the culture of Bhārata.
Small or big, before you do any action, you must first of all bow to it. Before she dances, a dancer presses her anklets to her eyes and bows to them. Those who play the tabla in a bhajan first bow to the tabla, and only then begin to play. Not only the educated: even lorry drivers who cannot read start driving only after bowing to the steering wheel. This is the sacredness that the ancient culture has handed down. What does namaskāra mean? Nothing but a feeling free of ego.
Embodiments of Prema! Respect everyone. Only then will you too receive respect. Whatever you give others, that very thing comes back to you. Your all lies in the fruit of action. Even the realisation of God lies in the fruit of action. But man today performs actions as he pleases, without enquiring into good and bad. That is why he suffers hardships no one should have to suffer. He grieves while he is going through troubles, but while he is doing the actions he does not enquire, “Is this good or bad?” Before you do any action, you must enquire into its good and bad. You must take part in actions calmly, without haste. The new year does not bring you your joys and sorrows, your hardships and comforts; they come only through the actions you do.