Devanagari
पूर्तेन तपसा यज्ञैर्दानैर्योगसमाधिना ।
राद्धं नि:श्रेयसं पुंसां मत्प्रीतिस्तत्त्वविन्मतम् ॥ ४१ ॥
Verse text
pūrtena tapasā yajṣair
dānair yoga-samādhinā
rāddhaṁ niḥśreyasaṁ puṁsāṁ
mat-prītis tattvavin-matam
Synonyms
pūrtena
—
by traditional good work
;
tapasā
—
by penances
;
yajṣaiḥ
—
by sacrifices
;
dānaiḥ
—
by charities
;
yoga
—
by mysticism
;
samādhinā
—
by trance
;
rāddham
—
success
;
niḥśreyasam
—
ultimately beneficial
;
puṁsām
—
of the human being
;
mat
—
of Me
;
prītiḥ
—
satisfaction
;
tattva
—
vit — expert transcendentalist
;
matam
—
opinion .
Translation
It is the opinion of expert transcendentalists that the ultimate goal of performing all traditional good works, penances, sacrifices, charities, mystic activities, trances, etc., is to invoke My satisfaction.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The result that men attain by pious acts, austerity, sacrifices, charities, and concentration in yoga should be pleasing to me. This is the opinion of the knowers of truth.
There is nothing better than pleasing me. Whatever results (niḥśreyasam) are achieved by pious acts, austerity, sacrifice, charity or concentration in yoga, are not results at all without pleasing me. The knowers of truth perform these pious acts to please me. They desire to please me; they do not desire to make me the object of their pleasure. I am pleased with such persons who perform bhakti with sattva-guṇa. [Note: Those with karma-miśra –bhakti achieve sālokya, sārūpya etc. without direct service. Those with jṣāna-miśra-bhakti achieve śānta-rasa.] I give them liberation.
Purport
There are many traditionally pious activities in human society, such as altruism, philanthropy, nationalism, internationalism, charity, sacrifice, penance and even meditation in trance, and all of them can be fully beneficial only when they lead to the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The perfection of any activity — social, political, religious or philanthropic — is to satisfy the Supreme Lord. This secret of success is known to the devotee of the Lord, as exemplified by Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra. As a good, nonviolent man, Arjuna did not want to fight with his kinsmen, but when he understood that Kṛṣṇa wanted the fight and had arranged it at Kurukṣetra, he gave up his own satisfaction and fought for the satisfaction of the Lord. That is the right decision for all intelligent men. One’s only concern should be to satisfy the Lord by one’s activities. If the Lord is satisfied by an action, whatever it may be, then it is successful; otherwise, it is simply a waste of time. That is the standard of all sacrifice, penance, austerity, mystic trance and other good and pious work.