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Study a Verse
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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 12.10
अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भव ।
मदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन्सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि ॥ १० ॥
abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si
mat-karma-paramo bhava
mad-artham api karmāṇi
kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi
If you cannot practice the regulations of bhakti-yoga, then just try to work for Me, because by working for Me you will come to the perfect stage.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
If you cannot practice the rules of bhakti-yoga, Kṛṣṇa says to work for Him and reach perfection.
Prabhupāda explains that work done to satisfy Kṛṣṇa is spiritual activity and helps develop love for God.
Help devotees spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness through your labor or by giving some of your earnings.
If you cannot practice 12.9 (practicing the regulations of Bhakti-Yoga) then
Engage all external senses for working for Krishna
Work for Krishna
Benefit – You will come to the perfect stage
How to perform work for Krishna — based on Bg. 11.55
Sympathetic to propagation to Krishna consciousness
e.g. Every endeavor needs land, capital, organization, labor like in any other business
e.g. Can build a temple / Help in publication
If one cannot sacrifice results of his activities, at least sacrifice some percentage of his results
One lives within Krishna by continuously fixing one’s mind and intelligence upon Him (12.8)
One practices the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga to increase one’s desire and ability to remember and obtain Krishna (12.9)
One surrenders one’s work to Krishna (12.10)
One gives up the result of one’s work to some good cause (12.11)
One cultivates meditation or knowledge (12.12)
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: bhakti, śaraṇāgati.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 12.10 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to bhakti & surrender?
Offer one act today with devotion.
Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.