Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 12, Verse 10: Krishna to Arjuna — Bhakti-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  If you cannot sustain even abhyasa (repeated practice of fixing the mind on Me), then become mat-karma-parama (one for whom My action is supreme) — that is, make works dedicated to Me the primary discipline. By performing such works without self-interest, the sattva (purity) of the inner instrument is cleansed, and through that purification jnana (liberating knowledge) arises. Thus even without formal abhyasa, karma offered to Me becomes the indirect road to the same siddhi (accomplishment) — knowledge of the Self.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  If you are unable to sustain the smriti-abhyasa (practice of continuous remembrance) enjoined above, then become mat-karma-parama — one whose highest engagement is kainkarya (loving service) constituted by My temple works: building shrines, tending gardens, lighting lamps, sweeping, sprinkling, plastering, gathering flowers, worshipping, anointing, singing My names, circumambulating, and offering salutations. By performing these works with extreme dearness (atyartha-priyatvena) for My sake, you will swiftly acquire the firm, stable chit-sthiti (establishment of the mind) in Me that is the fruit of abhyasa-yoga, and thereby attain the siddhi that is My direct vision.

• Madhvadvaita

  *Abhyāsa* (disciplined, repeated meditation on Hari) may exceed your present capacity — then let *mat-karma-parama* (having action for Hari as supreme) be your standing. The *jīva*, *paratantra* (eternally dependent) on *svatantra* Hari, cannot achieve *siddhi* (the fruit of liberation, understood in dvaita as eternal loving proximity to Viṣṇu) through autonomous striving. Yet *karmāṇi mad-artham* — every act redirected toward Hari — purifies the *jīva*'s instrument by real *bheda* (real distinction) preserved and honored: the doer remains genuinely other than the Lord, and that very otherness is the ground on which Hari's grace operates. The *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–jīva, Lord–matter, jīva–jīva, jīva–matter, matter–matter) is not dissolved by devotional action but confirmed through it — each deed offered to Hari re-enacts the *jīva*'s *paratantra* status. *Siddhim avāpsyasi*: success accrues not through the jīva's own adequacy but through Hari's sovereign pleasure, granted in accord with *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy), each *jīva* receiving precisely the grade of liberation proportionate to its intrinsic rank.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabhacharya's bhashya is brief and imperative: if abhyasa with its asakti-sadhana (practices of detachment) is impossible, then become mat-seva-para — one wholly absorbed in puja (ritual worship) as seva to Me. Perform karma preceded by seva, and then for My sake perform further works. The accent falls on seva as the primary mode: in Pushti-marga, even the simplest act of service is Krishna's own lila (divine play) returning to itself, and no elaborated effort is required beyond complete surrender to His prasada (grace).

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Sridhara, taking the bhakti-philological line, glosses mat-karma-parama as one for whom observances done out of mat-priti (love of Me) are supreme — specifically ekadashi-upavasa (fasting on the eleventh lunar day), vrata-carya (vow-observances), and nama-sankirtana (chanting of the Name). If even abhyasa is beyond you, let the anushtana (performance) of these karmas of love be your primary practice. Performing them for My sake, you will attain moksha (liberation). The distinctive note here is that devotional observances — fasting, vows, kirtan — are themselves sufficient, with no reference to intermediate purification.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusudana draws the two registers together: mat-karma is the bhagavata-dharma (the devotional discipline) constituted by shravana and kirtana (hearing and singing of the Lord) — these are simultaneously karma and bhakti-abhyasa. Becoming mat-karma-parama means becoming tad-eka-nishtha (solely established in that discipline). Even without the direct abhyasa of dhyana (meditation), by performing these bhagavata-dharma-karmas for My sake you will attain the siddhi that is brahma-bhava (the state of identity with Brahman) — accessed through sattva-shuddhi and then jnana-utpatti (arising of knowledge). The synthesis is precise: bhakti-karmas are the purifying vehicle, and Advaita mukti is the destination.