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Study a Verse
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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 12.11
अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि कर्तुं मद्योगमाश्रित: ।
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं तत: कुरु यतात्मवान् ॥ ११ ॥
athaitad apy aśakto ’si
kartuṁ mad-yogam āśritaḥ
sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaṁ
tataḥ kuru yatātmavān
If, however, you are unable to work in this consciousness of Me, then try to act giving up all results of your work and try to be self-situated.
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 work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, try to give up all results of your work and become steady within yourself.
Prabhupāda explains that giving up these results gradually purifies the mind, helping one understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness and reach pure devotional service.
If difficulties prevent direct work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, give the results of your work to a good cause.
If you cannot practice 12.10 (Working in consciousness of Krishna) then
Try to give up all results of your work and be self-situated
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 12.11 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.