Devanagari
पुंसामतो विविधकर्मभिरध्वराद्यै-
र्दानेन चोग्रतपसा परिचर्यया च ।
आराधनं भगवतस्तव सत्क्रियार्थो
धर्मोऽर्पित: कर्हिचिद्म्रियते न यत्र ॥ १३ ॥
Verse text
puṁsām ato vividha-karmabhir adhvarādyair
dānena cogra-tapasā paricaryayā ca
ārādhanaṁ bhagavatas tava sat-kriyārtho
dharmo ’rpitaḥ karhicid mriyate na yatra
Synonyms
puṁsām
—
of the people
;
ataḥ
—
therefore
;
vividha
—
karmabhiḥ — by various fruitive activities
;
adhvara
—
ādyaiḥ — by performance of Vedic rituals
;
dānena
—
by charities
;
ca
—
and
;
ugra
—
very hard
;
tapasā
—
austerity
;
paricaryayā
—
by transcendental service
;
ca
—
also
;
ārādhanam
—
worship
;
bhagavataḥ
—
of the Personality of Godhead
;
tava
—
Your
;
sat
—
kriyā — arthaḥ — simply for pleasing Your Lordship
;
dharmaḥ
—
religion
;
arpitaḥ
—
so offered
;
karhicit
—
at any time
;
mriyate
—
vanquishes
;
na
—
never
;
yatra
—
there .
Translation
But the pious activities of the people, such as performance of Vedic rituals, charity, austere penances and transcendental service, performed with a view to worship You and satisfy You by offering You the fruitive results, are also beneficial. Such acts of religion never go in vain.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When men worship you, the Lord, by secular actions, by Vedic rites, by charity, severe austerity, and by service, they obtain the best results of action, because such acts offered to you never perish.
Since those without material desires are the best in bhakti, bhakti in the form of secular and Vedic actions offered to the Lord, with a predominance of attachment to pure bhakti bring about absence of material desires. Worship through various ordinary actions (vividha-karmabhiḥ), through Vedic rites (adhvarādyaiḥ) which are offered to you are successful. This is taught by the Lord with yat karoṣi yadaśnāsi in the Gītā. (BG 9.27) When bhakti is most prominent (karma-mīsra-bhakti), all ordinary and Vedic acts are offered. When bhakti is a secondary element (bhakti-miśra-karma), the Vedic acts are offered, but not the ordinary acts. In pure bhakti (kevala-bhakti), only the ordinary acts such as hearing and chanting are offered. This is the difference, caused by the motive in offering. Worship of the Lord brings about the best acts (sat-kriyārthaḥ), because dharma offered to you is never destroyed, but transforms into worship. This means that dharma whose main object is fulfillment of material desires is destroyed.
Purport
Absolute devotional service, conducted in nine different spiritual activities — hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, praying, etc. — does not always appeal to people with a pompous nature; they are more attracted by the Vedic superficial rituals and other costly performances of social religious shows. But the process according to the Vedic injunctions is that the fruits of all pious activities should be offered to the Supreme Lord. In
Bhagavad-gītā
(9.27)
, the Lord demands that whatever one may do in one’s daily activities, such as worship, sacrifice, and offering charity, all the results should be offered to Him only. This offering of the results of pious acts unto the Supreme Lord is a sign of devotional service to the Lord and is of permanent value, whereas enjoying the same results for oneself is only temporary. Anything done on account of the Lord is a permanent asset and accumulates in the form of unseen piety for gradual promotion to the unalloyed devotional service of the Lord. These undetected pious activities will one day result in full-fledged devotional service by the grace of the Supreme Lord. Therefore, any pious act done on account of the Supreme Lord is also recommended here for those who are not pure devotees.