Bhagwad Gita - Post 238

 Verse 56

Doing all actions always, taking refuge in Me, by My Grace he obtains the eternal, indestructible state or abode.

Doing all actions, taking refuge in me

If you do work as a worship of God, whatever be the work that you do—let it be anything, even the littlest of activities of yours—may these activities be dedicated to God as a humble offering. 

Here, Lord Krishna again reiterates the performance of sadhana or internal propitiation. In the phrase sarva-karmany api meaning all types of activities, the conjunction api meaning although denotes that without surrender and devotion to the Supreme Lord no actions should be offered to Him.

In the gayatri mantra talk to a group, in a talk of Prasad, in the affirmation talk on the Karma, the author emphasized and again and again re-emphasized that the intellect, mind, senses that take up the action, the actions themselves, the doer - all must be surrendered to God.

So, it is not about doing the act and leaving the fruits of action to the Lord, when it comes to the path of devotion.

A true devotee is ever in surrender to his Lord. So, all actions, the intellect (efficient cause) which show the approach to the action, the body, mind and senses (the material and instrument cause) – all of them are not surrendered afresh at the time of action but on the contrary, with all of them ever surrendered to the God, actions take place as per requirement of purushartha, depending upon the ashrama in which the devotee exists - Brahmacharya, grahastha, vanaprastha or Sanyasa. 

Such action is often explained with the example of a zoom camera where, the zooming takes place only when a picture is to be captured and immediately after the pic is captured, the zooming is withdrawn!!!!!

By my grace, he obtains the eternal

Given the level of surrender, the devotee does not even demand / aspire for obtaining the eternal, indestructible state (Realization).

The one in him who would cry to the Lord for granting, gracing liberation, has already been surrendered to the Lord.

Since, Lord ever waits for such a devotee with such state of surrender (Atma nivedanam), such an aspirant will  (rather must) receive the grace of the Supreme Lord and by their exclusive devotion to Him and attain His eternal association in the transcendental spiritual worlds.

Verse 57

Mentally renouncing all actions in Me, having Me as the highest goal, resorting to the Yoga of discrimination do thou ever fix thy mind on Me.

Resigning mentally all deeds to me 

Both the ego and the egocentric anxieties for enjoying are to be renounced at the altar of the Lord, and thus to act in the world is the 'path,' through which a man of action reaches the greater cultural climes. This idea of surrender has been discussed in the previous verse, very clearly. This spirit of surrender can come only when the student has infinite courage to maintain a steady aspiration for "having me as the highest goal." 

Resorting to buddhi yoga

The intellect's main function is discrimination. To discriminate the false from the true, and to fix ourselves on the path of seeking the true, is called Buddhi yoga. Controlling life and regulating its movements through discrimination is Karma Yoga. And thus the term 'Buddhi yoga' is an original coined-word, met with only in the Gita, to indicate in essence the "Path – of – Selfless - Action." It has been used in the very early portions of the Gita and there it has been very exhaustively explained.

It is interesting to know from the learning from previous verse that the only duty of a pure devotee is to surrender. Once surrendered, God takes over in such a way that even without any specific focus on undertaking purshartha only with discrimination (as learnt in Karma and in Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahankara sessions / blog posts), MBCA Post Summary (March 4, 2017), all actions get themselves routed through discrimination on their own.

In a recent talk to a group of devotees, talking on devotion with reference to Meera, the author ( from the source within) specifically said , “In Bhakti, in the penultimate state prior to realization / Atma nivedanam, even intellect faculty stands surrendered to the Lord, unlike the path of wisdom where, each and every purushartha is screened through pure intellect ”.

A devotee who has thus come to live all his activities in dedication to his goal, the Krishna- Consciousness, must necessarily come to live as Krishna, and experience the Eternal, Immutable State, of the Self.

Love.