Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya 49

Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya

Chapter-2 Sankhya Yogaḥ

nehābhikrama-nāśo’sti pratyavāyo na vidyate | svalpam apyasya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt || 40 || 40. In this [practice], there is no wasted effort, nor any harm [transgression]. Even a little of this practice [Dharma ie. Karma Yoga] protects one from the great terror. Commentary In this practice of Karma Yoga there is no loss of initial effort. 'Abhikrama' means invested effort. 'Nāśa' means the loss of potential to succeed. In the practice of Karma Yoga, if some activity is begun and left unfinished, and the continuity is thus broken, it does not remain fruitless, as in the case of works undertaken expressly for their rewards. There is no negative result if the work is not continued. Even a little of this practice known as Karma Yoga or Niṣkāma Karma (actions done without desire for any reward) gives protection from the great fear, i.e., the fear of [the continuation of] transmigratory existence. The same purport is explained later thus:— 'Neither in this world nor the next, O Arjuna, is one annihilated'. But in other works, religious and secular, when there is interruption, not only do they fail to produce results, but actually produce demerit.