यो यो मयि परे धर्म: कल्प्यते निष्फलाय चेत् । तदायासो निरर्थ: स्याद् भयादेरिव सत्तम ॥ २१ ॥
yo yo mayi pare dharmaḥ kalpyate niṣphalāya cet tad-āyāso nirarthaḥ syād bhayāder iva sattama
- yaḥ yaḥ
- whatever
- mayi
- unto Me
- pare
- the Supreme
- dharmaḥ
- is religion
- kalpyate
- tends
- niṣphalāya
- toward becoming free from the result of material work
- cet
- if
- tat
- of that
- āyāsaḥ
- the endeavor
- nirarthaḥ
- futile
- syāt
- may be
- bhaya-ādeḥ
- of fear and so on
- iva
- as
- sat-tama
- O best of saintly persons
O Uddhava, greatest of saints, in a dangerous situation an ordinary person cries, becomes fearful and laments, although such useless emotions do not change the situation. But activities offered to Me without personal motivation, even if they are externally useless, amount to the actual process of religion.