Chapter 18Verse 46 of 78

Bhagavad Gita 18.46

यतः प्रवृत्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वमिदं ततम् । स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः ॥

yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṃ yena sarvam idaṃ tatam / sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṃ vindati mānavaḥ

Translation

He from whom all beings issue, by whom all this is pervaded, by worshipping Him through one's own work, a person attains perfection.

How the conversion works. Sva-karma becomes worship. The same plowing, fighting, teaching, serving becomes abhyarchana, devotional offering, when it is performed as worship of the One from whom all beings come and by whom all is pervaded. Yatah pravritti bhutanam yena sarvam idam tatam, the origin and the all-pervading ground are the same being. Sva-karma-na tam abhyarchya, by worshipping that being precisely through one's own work. This is the bridge sentence of the entire chapter. The ordinary action becomes the path. No new task, no exit from station. The act is identical; the relation is transformed. Siddhi, accomplishment, arrives through that single inward turn.

Reflection

How would today's work feel if it were offered as worship of the One from whom all beings come?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eighteen

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