No sincere service to Krishna is ever lost; even incomplete devotion grants eternal spiritual advancement.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Bhagavad-gītā 2.40 — September 13, 1973, London 730913BG-LONDON [31:44 Minutes] Bg-02.40_730913BG-LONDON Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] nehābhikrama-nāśo 'sti pratyavāyo na vidyate svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt [Bg. 2.40] [break] [01:10] Translation: "In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear." Prabhupāda: So we have explained yesterday, buddhi-yoga.
Buddhi-yoga means bhakti-yoga. So, svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. Bhakti-yoga, begun, some way or other, it has got great effect. There is story that in the Deity room, a lamp was burning.
You know oil lamp has to be watched. Sometimes the wick has to be pushed. So the lamp was almost going to be extinguished. In the meantime, a rat came there.
He thought that it is something eatable. So he touched with mouth the wick, and it became pushed. Simply by that action he got salvation. Just try to understand.
Because he gave some service to the Deity. So there are many instances. Svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt. Kṛṣṇa consciousness business is so nice that whatever you do sincerely, it will never be lost. Permanent.
Either you execute one percent, two percent, fifty percent. If you can finish hundred percent, then next life, sure you are going to Kṛṣṇa. But even if you are unable to finish the whole course, still, whatever you have done, that is permanent credit. That will never be lost. The similar passage is there in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, while Nārada Muni was instructing Vyāsadeva for writing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
So he said this verse: tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer bhajann apakvo 'tha patet tato yadi yatra kva vābhadram abhūd amuṣya kiṁ ko vārtha āpto 'bhajatāṁ sva-dharmataḥ [SB 1.5.17] Tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ hareḥ. This dharma means according to social and spiritual position, somebody is brahmacārī, somebody is householder, somebody is vānaprastha, somebody is sannyāsī; somebody is brāhmaṇa, somebody kṣatriya, somebody's vaiśya, somebody's śūdra. This is Vedic division of social and spiritual life. So each position has got different types of occupational duties.