Gita: Bhakti Yoga - Verse 11

Hari Aum

Prostrations to my Guru and Prostrations to all


Word Meaning:
aTha: if
ethadh: this
api: also
ashakthaha: unable
asi: (you) are
karthum: to do
math yogam: my Yoga
aashritaha: refuged in
sarva karma phala tyagam: the renunciation of the fruits of all actions
thathaha: then
kuru: do
yath aathmavaan: self-controlled

“If you are unable to do even this, then taking refuge in Me, self-controlled, renounce the fruits-of-all-actions.”

In this sloka Krishna comes down one more level to help the devotees. In the previous sloka he told that those who couldn’t perform the yoga of practice of constant thought all the time, he asked to do actions for the sake of Him and offer the action to Him. When the action is done for the sake of the Lord and then offering the action to the Lord, the ego level goes down. If the devotee finds this also to be difficult to do the actions for the sake of the Lord, in this sloka he tells to renounce the results that come out of the action and take refuge in god.
Whatever action we do, the results are bound to come in the future. But the natural tendency is to brooding on the result and dreaming about the future. Thus here Krishna tells to renounce that expectation of the result which would come in the future and make use of the present by taking refuge in Him. Thus by doing so, results of all the actions will be taken as the Prasad from the Lord and hence one will not get affected by the results.

Hari Aum

Thanks,
Rajesh