2.40 No effort is wasted Krishna speaks
नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात्
nehābhikrama-nāśho ’sti pratyavāyo na vidyate
svalpam apyasya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt
On this path no effort is wasted and no step is lost. Even a little of it saves you from great fear.
Explanation
No effort is wasted and no step is lost.
Of everything in the chapter, this is the verse to keep. Even a little of it saves you from great fear.
It says the thing nobody says about a discipline: that partial attempts are not failures. Chapter 6 will spend eight verses expanding it into an answer for anyone who tried and stopped.
Going further
Word by word
- na
- not
- iha
- in this
- abhikrama
- efforts
- nāśhaḥ
- loss
- asti
- there is
- pratyavāyaḥ
- adverse result
- na
- not
- vidyate
- is
- su-alpam
- a little
- api
- even
- asya
- of this
- dharmasya
- occupation
- trāyate
- saves
- mahataḥ
- from great
- bhayāt
- danger
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On this path no effort is wasted and no step is lost.
Of everything in the chapter, this is the verse to keep. It says nothing about outcomes, victory or reward. It says the ground behind you does not disappear. Anyone who has abandoned a practice and felt that the abandonment voided everything preceding it is the person this verse was put here for.