अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव |
मदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन्सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि || 10||
abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si mat-karma-paramo bhava
mad-artham api karmāṇi kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi
abhyāse—in practice; api—if; asamarthaḥ—unable; asi—you; mat-karma paramaḥ—devotedly work for Me; bhava—be; mat-artham—for My sake; api—also; karmāṇi—work; kurvan—performing; siddhim—perfection; avāpsyasi—you shall achieve
Translation:
Even if you are not capable of practice, do work for My sake; By doing work for my sake also, you shall attain perfection.
Commentary:
Again the Lord offers an alternate path for those who are not able to get steadiness in meditation even by constant practice. They should engage themselves in doing good actions, charitable deeds of helpfulness, and beneficence to all beings. And such actions should be offered to the Lord, without any desire for personal reward. This is simply Nishkama Karma. Japa, prayer, ‘namasamkirtan’, worship, vows of fasting and silence, all these come under good actions for the sake of God. This is the idea of “matkarmaparamobhava”. By such actions, the mind is purified, and by the purity of mind, liberation is attained. Thus Nishkama Karma leads to perfection. This is recommended to those who are not able to still the mind in Dhyana. Only, those actions should be done in a spirit of self-surrender to God. They should be done to win God’s grace and not for obtaining selfish rewards. This idea should be firmly held in the mind while performing all good work in the world.
Question: What is the way for those who are not competent even for Abhyasa yoga?
Answer: They should perform good actions in a selfless spirit and surrender the fruits to God.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 12 🔻 (20 Verses)
