Devanagari
क्लेशभूर्यल्पसाराणि कर्माणि विफलानि वा ।
देहिनां विषयार्तानां न तथैवार्पितं त्वयि ॥ ४७ ॥
Verse text
kleśa-bhūry-alpa-sārāṇi
karmāṇi viphalāni vā
dehināṁ viṣayārtānāṁ
na tathaivārpitaṁ tvayi
Synonyms
kleśa
—
hardship
;
bhūri
—
very much
;
alpa
—
very little
;
sārāṇi
—
good result
;
karmāṇi
—
activities
;
viphalāni
—
frustration
;
vā
—
either
;
dehinām
—
of persons
;
viṣaya
—
artānām — who are eager to enjoy the material world
;
na
—
not
;
tathā
—
like that
;
eva
—
indeed
;
arpitam
—
dedicated
;
tvayi
—
unto Your Lordship .
Translation
Karmīs are always anxious to accumulate wealth for their sense gratification, but for that purpose they must work very hard. Yet even though they work hard, the results are not satisfying. Indeed, sometimes their work results only in frustration. But devotees who have dedicated their lives to the service of the Lord can achieve substantial results without working very hard. These results exceed the devotee’s expectations.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Activities performed for you are not like the activities of persons desiring material enjoyment--which require great effort and which yield little or no result.
The pious acts of us, your devotees, should not be fruitless like the actions of the material enjoyers. The activities offered to you by your devotees are not like the actions of the materialists, which are filled with suffering, and have little result or no result.
Purport
We can practically see how the devotees who have dedicated their lives for the service of the Lord in the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement are getting immense opportunities for the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead without working very hard. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement actually started with only forty rupees, but now it has more than forty crores worth of property, and all this opulence has been achieved within eight or ten years. No
karmī
can expect to improve his business so swiftly, and besides that, whatever a
karmī
acquires is temporary and sometimes frustrating. In Kṛṣṇa consciousness, however, everything is encouraging and improving. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is not very popular with the
karmīs
because this movement recommends that one refrain from illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. These are restrictions that
karmīs
very much dislike. Nonetheless, in the presence of so many enemies, this movement is progressing, going forward without impediments. If the devotees continue to spread this movement, dedicating life and soul to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, no one will be able to check it. The movement will go forward without limits. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa!