Chapter 12 · Verse 10·Spoken by Krishna
अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव।मदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन् सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि
abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si mat-karma-paramo bhava mad-artham api karmāṇi kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
Word by Word
Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries
Translation · 5 voices
If you are unable even to practice, be intent on works for Me. By undertaking works for Me as well, you will attain perfection. [Identify with Brahman.]
Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara
If you are incapable of even this practice of repetition, then devote yourself to My deeds. For even by working for My sake, you will attain perfection.
Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja
If you are incapable of doing a steady practice, then have Me as your chief aim in performing actions. Even by performing actions for Me, you shall attain success.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva
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.
Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita
And if you are not strong enough to practice concentration, then devote yourself to My service, do all your acts for My sake, and you will still attain the goal.
Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta
If you are unable even for practice, then become one for whom the works of Me are the supreme, one whose chief concern is action done for My sake; for even without practice, merely by doing actions for My sake, you will attain perfection, by way of the purification of being, the gaining of yoga, and the reaching of knowledge.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
But if you are unable even for such a practice of remembrance, be one whose supreme aim is action for Me. Carry out, with an exceedingly great love, My actions: the making of temples, the laying out of gardens, the setting up of lamps, the sweeping, the sprinkling, the smearing, the gathering of flowers, the worship, the anointing, the proclaiming of the names, the circumambulation, the salutation, the praising, and the rest. Even while doing actions for My sake out of an exceedingly great love, before long, having gained a steady standing of the mind in Me, preceded by the discipline of practice, you will attain the consummation that is the attaining of Me.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
Madhvacharya does not comment on this verse.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.