Bg. 2.40

There are two types of yoga explained in this section of the chapter: activities of bhakti, including hearing chanting and other such activities; and prescribed duties offered to the Lord without personal desire (niṣkāma-karma-yoga), which is expressed later starting with the verse karmaṇy evādhikāras te (BG 2.47). Before that, however, bhakti is discussed. Because bhakti alone, and no other process, is beyond the three modes, a person transcends the modes only by performing bhakti-yoga. Thus the statement nistraiguṇyo bhava to Arjuna (BG 2.45) indicates that this section is about bhakti. The nirguṇa nature of bhakti is also well supported by the statements of the Eleventh Canto of Bhāgavatam. [Note: The twenty-fifth chapter of the Eleventh Canto explains in many verses how bhakti and things related to bhakti are beyond the guṇas. Many of these verses are quoted in Viśvanātha’s commentaries on verse 45 of this chapter and verse 28 of the eighteenth chapter.] Jṣāna and karma cannot be said to be nistraiguṇya because of the presence of sattva in jṣāna, and rajas in karma. And the bhakti found in karma-yoga in the form of offering ones prescribed actions to the Lord is present there just makes karma lose its uselessness and bear material fruits. This process of karma-yoga does not have the designation of bhakti proper because predominance of bhakti is absent. If one considers karma offered to the Lord to be bhakti, then what would the designation karma refer to? If one says that it refers to prescribed karma not offered to the Lord, that cannot be, for Nārada says, naiṣkarmyam apy acyuta-bhāva-varjitaṁ na śobhate jṣānam alaṁ niraṣjanam kutaḥ punaḥ śaśvad abhadram īśvare na cārpitaṁ karma yad apy akāraṇam Knowledge of self-realization, even though free from all material affinity, does not look well if devoid of a conception of the Infallible [God]. What, then, is the use of fruitive activities, which are naturally painful from the very beginning and transient by nature, if they are not utilized for the devotional service of the Lord? SB 1.5.12 This statement indicates that karma devoid of the Lord is completely useless. Therefore, in this verse and in the verses till verse 45, bhakti, characterized only by hearing, chanting, and other devotional acts, practiced only to attain the sweetness of the Lord’s lotus feet, is being described. Niṣkāma-karma-yoga will also be described. Both of these are indicated by the word buddhi-yoga mentioned in verse 39. In the phrase dadāmi buddhi-yogam taṁ yena mām upayānti te (BG 10.10), the word buddhi-yoga indicates bhakti-yoga. In the phrase durena hy avaraṁ karma buddhi-yogād dhanaṣjaya (BG 2.49), the word buddhi-yoga indicates niṣkāma-karma-yoga. Thus, this present verse is a glorification of the process of bhakti with hearing and chanting, which is beyond the modes of nature. In bhakti-yoga (iha) there is no destruction (nāśaḥ), and there is also no sin incurred (pratyavāya), if the practice has just begun (abhikrama) and then stopped. If karma-yoga, however, is begun and then stopped, there is both destruction of the fruits of karma-yoga and sinful reaction as well for the performer. [Note: The Mīmāṁsakas say that if the actions are not completed they bear no result. Further, sin is incurred by not completing the act.] “But then, by non-performance of bhakti which he is supposed to do, the aspiring practitioner also should not get any results.” “Whatever little bhakti was there by the initial practice (svalpam apy asya dharmasya), even that small amount, will certainly deliver him from the bondage of saṁsāra (mahato bhayat).” This is understood from such verses as the following: yan-nāma sakṛcchravaṇāt pukkaśo ’pi vimucyate saṁsārād Merely by hearing the holy name of Your Lordship only once, even caṇḍālas men of the lowest class, are freed from all material contamination. SB 6.16.44 And it is also seen in the example of Ajāmila and others. One can see that the following statement by the Lord has the same meaning: hy aṅgopakrame dhvaṁso mad-dharmasyoddhavāṇv api mayā vyavasitaḥ samyaṅ nirguṇatvād anāśiṣaḥ My dear Uddhava, because I have personally established it, this process of devotional service unto Me is transcendental and free from any material motivation. Certainly a devotee never suffers even the slightest loss by adopting this process. SB 11.29.20 In the Bhāgavatam verse quoted above, Kṛṣṇa also shows the cause of indestructibility of bhakti. As it is beyond the guṇas, it never can be destroyed. The same reasoning should also be applied to the present Gītā verse. One cannot say however that niṣkāma-karma-yoga, even by being offered to the Lord, is beyond the modes of nature, for it is said: mad-arpaṇaṁ niṣphalaṁ vā sattvicṁ nija-karma tat Work performed as an offering to Me, without consideration of the fruit, is considered to be in the mode of goodness. SB 11.25.23 This verse indicates that niṣkāma-karma-yoga, even by the power of being offered to the Lord, is in the material mode of sattva (and therefore subject to destruction).