BG 2.40

2.40 न not? इह in this? अभिक्रमनाशः loss of effort? अस्ति is? प्रत्यवायः production of contrary results? न not? विद्यते is? स्वल्पम् very little? अपि even? अस्य of this? धर्मस्य duty? त्रायते protects? महतः (from) great? भयात् fear.Commentary If a religious ceremony is left uncompleted? it is a wastage as the performer cannot realise the fruits. But it is not so in the case of Karma Yoga because every action causes immediate purification of the heart.In agriculture there is uncertainty. The farmer may till the land? plough and sow the seed but he may not get a crop if there is no rain. This is not so in Karma Yoga. There is no uncertainty at all. Further? there is no chance of any harm coming out of it. In the case of medical treatment great harm will result from the doctors injudicious treatment if he uses a wrong medicine. But it is not so in the case of Karma Yoga. Anything done? however little it may be? in this path of Yoga? the Yoga of action? saves one from great fear of being caught in the wheel of birth and death. Lord Krishna here extols Karma Yoga in order to create interest in Arjuna in this Yoga.

— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗

Activity in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or acting for the benefit of Kṛṣṇa without expectation of sense gratification, is the highest transcendental quality of work. Even a small beginning of such activity finds no impediment, nor can that small beginning be lost at any stage. Any work begun on the material plane has to be completed, otherwise the whole attempt becomes a failure. But any work begun in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has a permanent effect, even though not finished. The performer of such work is therefore not at a loss even if his work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is incomplete. One percent done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness bears permanent results, so that the next beginning is from the point of two percent, whereas in material activity without a hundred percent success there is no profit. Ajāmila performed his duty in some percentage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but the result he enjoyed at the end was a hundred percent, by the grace of the Lord. There is a nice verse in this connection in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.5.17) : tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer bhajann apakvo ’tha patet tato yadi yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kiṁ ko vārtha āpto ’bhajatāṁ sva-dharmataḥ “If someone gives up his occupational duties and works in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and then falls down on account of not completing his work, what loss is there on his part? And what can one gain if one performs his material activities perfectly?” Or, as the Christians say, “What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world yet suffer the loss of his eternal soul?” Material activities and their results end with the body. But work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness carries a person again to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even after the loss of the body. At least one is sure to have a chance in the next life of being born again as a human being, either in the family of a great cultured brāhmaṇa or in a rich aristocratic family that will give one a further chance for elevation. That is the unique quality of work done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗