Shloka
अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि कर्तुं मद्योगमाश्रितः |
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं ततः कुरु यतात्मवान् ||१२-११||Transliteration
athaitadapyaśakto.asi kartuṃ madyogamāśritaḥ .
sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṃ tataḥ kuru yatātmavān ||12-11||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
12.11. Now, if you are not capable of doing this too, then taking resort to My Yoga renounce the fruit of all action, with your self (mind) subdued.
Shri Purohit Swami
12.11 And if thou art too weak even for this, then seek refuge in union with Me, and with perfect self-control renounce the fruit of thy action.
Sri Abhinav Gupta
12.11 Atha etc. In case due to ignorance, you do not know the method, enjoined in the scriptures and hence you are not able to perform actions for the Lord, then renounce (dedicate) all that to Me, through offering your own self [to Me]. This is the intention [here]. Holding the same intention, I have myself declared in the Laghuprakriya as :
‘Whatever action I have done, whether it is incomplete or superfluous, not properly understood, bereft of a proper order of precedence, devoid of [good] care, and full of slip of intellect;
O Lord of All ! Please, with mercy forgive all these of me, the afflicted and foolish devotee of Yours; for you are compassionate;
With this prayer-Yoga, I offer myself to You [so that] I do not become a receptacle of miseries again unnecessarily.’
the same idea may be observed in the scriptural texts of the Siddhanta [system] - that have the Supreme Lord as their subject matter - while they speak of offering oneself [to the Lord]. The same purport is summed up -
Sri Ramanuja
12.11 If you are unable to do even this ’taking refuge in My Yoga,’ i.e., if you are unable even to do actions for My sake, which forms the sprout of Bhakti Yoga, wherein through meditation I am made the exclusive and sole object of love - then you should resort to Aksara Yoga described in the first six chapters. It consists in contemplation on the nature of the individual self. This engenders devotion to the Lord. As a means for practice of this (Aksara Yoga), renounce the fruit of every action.
The state of mind that holds Me as the only worthy object of attainment and love arises only when all the sins of an aspirant are destroyed without exception. ‘One with a controlled mind’ means one with the mind subdued. When the individual self is visualised to be of the nature of a Sesa (subsidiary) to the Lord, and when the veil of nescience consisting in identifying the self with the body is removed by contemplation on the self generated through the performance of works without attachment to the fruits and with My propitiation as the sole objective - then supreme Bhakti to Me will originate by itself. [The point driven home is this: It is nescience that stands between the Jiva and the Lord. This nescience consists in identification of the self with the body. It is through works done without an eye on their fruits but exclusively as an offering to the Lord, that this nescience is removed. Thus Karma Yoga is the sprout of self-realisation, and of Bhakti. On the nescience being removed, the knowledge that one (i.e., the Jiva) is a Sesa (an absolutely dependent liege) of the Lord, dawns on the Jiva. Such knowledge generates exclusive devotion or Bhakti accompanied by Prapatti. Or if the Jiva gets immersed in Its own bliss, It will attain Kaivalya.]
In the same manner, Sri Krsna will further show in the text beginning with ‘By worshipping Him with his work will a man reach perfection’ (18.46) and ending with ‘Forsaking the feeling of “I” and with no feeling of “mine” and tranil, one becomes worthy of the state of Brahman. Having realised the state of Brahman, tranil, he neither grieves nor craves. Regarding all beings alike, he attains supreme devotion to Me’ (18.53-54).
Sri Shankaracharya
12.11 Atha, if, again; asaktah asi, you are unable; kartum, to do; etat api, even this-what was stated as being ‘intent on doing works for Me’; in that case, mad-yogam-asritah, having resorted to the Yoga for Me-the performance of those works that are being done by dedicating them to Me is madyogah; by resorting to that Yoga for Me; tatah, thereafter; sarva-karma-phala-tyagam kuru, renounce, give up, the results of all works; by becoming yata-atmavan, controlled in mind. [In the earlier verse it was enjoined that all works, be they Vedic or secular, are to be considered as belonging to God and should be done for Him-not for oneself-, as a soldier would do for his king. In the present verse it is stated that the attitude should be, ‘May this work of mine please God.’ This very attitude involves dedicating of results to God. See S. According to M.S., mat-karma in the earlier verse means bhagavata-dharma, i.e. hearing, singing, etc. about God. In the present verse, sarva-karma means all works in general.-Tr.] Now the Lord praises the renunciation of the results of all works:
Swami Adidevananda
12.11 If you are unable to do even this, i.e., taking refuge in My Yoga, then, with your self controlled, renounce the fruits of every action.
Swami Gambirananda
12.11 If you are unable to do even this, in that case, having resorted to the Yoga for Me, thereafter renounce the results of all works by becoming controlled in mind.
Swami Sivananda
12.11 If thou art unable to do even this, then, resorting to union with Me, renounce the fruits of all actions with the self controlled.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
12.11 अथ if? एतत् this? अपि also? अशक्तः unable? असि (thou) art? कर्तुम् to do? मद्योगम् My Yoga? आश्रितः resorting to? सर्वकर्मफलत्यागम् the renunciation of the fruits of all actions? ततः then? कुरु do? यतात्मवान् selfcontrolled.Commentary This is the easiest path. If thou art unable to perform actions for My sake? if thou canst not even be intent on My service? if thou art unable to practise the Bhagavata Dharmas? if thous wishest to do actions impelled by personal desires? then do thou perform them (for your sake from a sense of duty) renouncing them all in Me and also abandon the fruits of all actions? at the same time practising selfcontrol.In verse 8 the Yoga of meditation is prescribed for advanced students in verse 9 the Yoga of constant practice if one finds that? too? to be difficult? the performance of actions for the sake of the Lord alone has been taught in verse 10 and those who cannot do even this are asked to abandon the fruits of all actions.Madyogam My Yoga. Surrendering all actions and their fruits to Me is My Yoga.Yatatmavan The man of discrimination who has controlled all the senses? who has withdrawn the senses from sound? touch? form? taste and smell.Now the Lord eulogises the renunciation of the fruits of all actions in order to encourage the aspirants to practise the Yoga of renunciation of the fruits of actions.