Bg. 18.46 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

यत: प्रवृत्तिर्भूतानां येन सर्वमिदं ततम् । स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिं विन्दति मानव: ॥ ४६ ॥

Verse text

yataḥ pravṛttir bhūtānāṁ yena sarvam idaṁ tatam sva-karmaṇā tam abhyarcya siddhiṁ vindati mānavaḥ

Synonyms

yataḥ — from whom ; pravṛttiḥ — the emanation ; bhūtānām — of all living entities ; yena — by whom ; sarvam — all ; idam — this ; tatam — is pervaded ; sva-karmaṇā — by his own duties ; tam — Him ; abhyarcya — by worshiping ; siddhim — perfection ; vindati — achieves ; mānavaḥ — a man.

Translation

By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, a man can attain perfection through performing his own work.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

46. Men achieve success by worshiping the Lord who is the origin of all entities and is spread everywhere, through mentally offering their prescribed duties.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

46. Men achieve steadiness in jṣāna by worshiping the Lord who is the origin of all entities and is spread everywhere, through mentally offering their prescribed duties.

Purport

As stated in the Fifteenth Chapter, all living beings are fragmental parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Supreme Lord is the beginning of all living entities. This is confirmed in the Vedānta-sūtra – janmādy asya yataḥ. The Supreme Lord is therefore the beginning of life of every living entity. And as stated in the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā, the Supreme Lord, by His two energies, His external energy and internal energy, is all-pervading. Therefore one should worship the Supreme Lord with His energies. Generally the Vaiṣṇava devotees worship the Supreme Lord with His internal energy. His external energy is a perverted reflection of the internal energy. The external energy is a background, but the Supreme Lord by the expansion of His plenary portion as Paramātmā is situated everywhere. He is the Supersoul of all demigods, all human beings, all animals, everywhere. One should therefore know that as part and parcel of the Supreme Lord one has his duty to render service unto the Supreme. Everyone should be engaged in devotional service to the Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is recommended in this verse. Everyone should think that he is engaged in a particular type of occupation by Hṛṣīkeśa, the master of the senses. And by the result of the work in which one is engaged, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, should be worshiped. If one thinks always in this way, in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then, by the grace of the Lord, he becomes fully aware of everything. That is the perfection of life. The Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (12.7), teṣām ahaṁ samuddhartā. The Supreme Lord Himself takes charge of delivering such a devotee. That is the highest perfection of life. In whatever occupation one may be engaged, if he serves the Supreme Lord he will achieve the highest perfection.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Humans attain perfection by worshipping (abhyarcya) through their prescribed work Him alone, the Supreme Lord, from whom arise the activities of all living entities. The worship consists of offering the work in the mind, thinking, “By this work may the Lord be satisfied.”

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

From the Lord arise (pravṛttiḥ) all the living entities. By Him the whole universe is pervaded (tatam). Worshipping that Lord who is situated as the soul of all the devatās such as Indra by ones activities— offering the act to Him after performing them by thinking “May the Lord be satisfied with the act,” men attain steadiness in jṣāna (siddhim).