Bhagavad Gita 12.10

abhyāse ’py asamartho ’si

mat-karma-paramo bhava

mad-artham api karmāṇi

kurvan siddhim avāpsyasi

 

If you cannot remember me steadily,

Use your inclinations for me unselfishly;

Work for my divine mission,

And you will reach perfection.

 

My dear Lord, you are so merciful that you offer me various levels at which to connect with you. If I cannot be absorbed in you at the level of the heart or focused steadily on you at the level of the mind, you graciously accommodate me at the level of the body, where I can use my physical senses in your service.

O supreme accommodating Lord, my default setting in this conditioned state is to act according to my inclinations for my own gratification. You do not ask me to give up my inclinations; you simply ask me to change my intention—so that instead of seeking my own pleasure, I seek your pleasure. Of course, your pleasure and my pleasure are not mutually exclusive; indeed, working for your pleasure eventually gives me the deepest pleasure. Still, to reach that wholesome level of relationship with you, I need to consistently nurture the intention to truly love you; if I treat you merely as a route to my own pleasure, then where is my love for you?

O supreme lover, grant me the will to pay the small price for a great love: while doing what I am naturally inclined to do, may I do it for your service rather than for my own schemes. And for that change in my driving purpose, may you reciprocate generously by increasing revelations of your supreme attractiveness, empowering me to rise to loving absorption in you.

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12.10 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.