Bhagavad Gita · 12.10 · The Yoga of Devotion·10 of 20
अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव।मदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन् सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि ॥
abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si mat-karma-paramo bhava
mad-artham api karmāṇi kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi
Sanskrit recitation
Many paths, one devotion · 12.1–12.12 · Teaching
Translation
If you are unable to practice even this Abhyasa Yoga, be intent on doing actions for My sake; even by doing actions for My sake, you will attain perfection.
Meaning
Even if thou doest mee actions for My sake without practising Yoga thou shalt attain perfection. Thou shalt first attain purity of mind, then Yoga (concentration and meditation), then knowledge and then ultimately perfection (Moksha or liberation). Serving humanity with Narayana Bhava (feeling that one is serving the Lord in all) is also doing actions for the sake of the Lord. such service should go hand in hand with worship of God and meditation.If you are not able to practise the Yoga of meditation mentioned in verse 8 or the Yoga of constant practice mentioned in verse 9, hear the glorious stories connected with the Lord by attending religious discourses, conducted by the devotees of the Lord, sing Kirtan and the praises of the Lord.Practise the nine kinds of Bhagavata Dharma (the nine modes of devotion). viz., (1) hearing the Lilas (glorious and divine sports) of the Lord (Sravana), (2) singing His Names (Kirtana), (3) constant remembrance of the Lord and constant repetition of His Names or Mantras (Smarana), (4) service of His feet (Padasevana), (5) offering flowers in worship (Archana), (6) doing prostrations to the Lord (Vandana), (7) becoming His servant (Dasya), (8) friendship with Him (Sakhya), and (9) doing total selfsurrender to the Lord (Atmanivedana). (Cf.III.19XI.55)
After Swami Sivananda
Many paths, one devotion· 12.1–12.12→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 12.1Arjuna said, "Which of them are better versed in Yoga—those who steadfastly worship You, or those who worship the imperishable and the unmanifested?"
- 12.2The Blessed Lord said, "In My opinion, those who fix their minds on Me, worship Me ever steadfastly, and are endowed with supreme faith, are the best in Yoga."
- 12.3Those who worship the imperishable, the indefinable, the unmanifest, the omnipresent, the unthinkable, the immovable, and the eternal.
- 12.4Having restrained all the senses, being even-minded everywhere, and intent on the welfare of all beings, they verily come unto Me.
- 12.5Greater is their trouble whose minds are set on the unmanifested, for the goal of the unmanifested is very hard for the embodied to reach.
- 12.6But to those who worship Me, renouncing all actions in Me, regarding Me as the supreme goal, meditating on Me with single-minded yoga.
- 12.7To those whose minds are set on Me, O Arjuna, verily I soon become the savior out of the ocean of Samsara.
- 12.8Fix your mind on Me, and your intellect in Me. Then you will certainly live in Me alone hereafter.
- 12.9If you are unable to fix your mind steadily on Me, then seek to reach Me through the yoga of constant practice, O Arjuna.
12.10If you are unable to practice even this Abhyasa Yoga, be intent on doing actions for My sake; even by doing actions for My sake, you will attain perfection.
- 12.11If you are unable to do even this, then, resort to union with Me and renounce the fruits of all actions with self-control.
- 12.12Better indeed is knowledge than practice; better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is the renunciation of the fruits of actions: peace immediately follows renunciation.
Word-by-word→
- api
- also
- asi
- you
- bhava
- be
- kurvan
- performing
- siddhim
- perfection
- abhyāse
- in practice
- avāpsyasi
- you shall achieve
- karmāṇi
- work
- mat-artham
- for my sake
- asamarthaḥ
- unable
- mat-karma paramaḥ
- devotedly work for me
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