In plain words
If you are unable even to practice, then make My work your highest aim. Even performing actions for My sake, you shall attain perfection.
Word for word
If you are unable even in practice, be one for whom work for Me is highest; even doing actions for My sake, you will attain siddhi.
अभ्यासेऽप्यसमर्थोऽसि मत्कर्मपरमो भवमदर्थमपि कर्माणि कुर्वन् सिद्धिमवाप्स्यसि
Other commentaries
The commentators
▸Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam· bhāṣya
अभ्यासे अपि असमर्थः असि अशक्तः असि, तर्हि मत्कर्मपरमः भव मदर्थं कर्म मत्कर्म तत्परमः मत्कर्मपरमः, मत्कर्मप्रधानः इत्यर्थः । अभ्यासेन विना मदर्थमपि कर्माणि केवलं कुर्वन् सिद्धिं सत्त्वशुद्धियोगज्ञानप्राप्तिद्वारेण अवाप्स्यसि ॥ १० ॥
In plain words
And if even that practice is beyond you, too hard, too much — then simply become someone for whom my work matters most. Work done for my sake is 'my work'; someone for whom that work is the highest priority is exactly what this compound means: someone for whom my work comes first. Without any formal practice at all, just by doing your ordinary actions for my sake, you will still reach perfection, moving step by step through purity of heart, then yoga, then real knowledge.
Close to the Sanskrit
If, even in [that] practice, you are incapable, unable — then become one for whom my work is highest: work done for my sake is 'my work'; one for whom that is highest is 'one for whom my work is highest' — [that is,] one for whom my work is foremost; that is the meaning. Without [that formal] practice, merely performing actions for my sake also, you will attain perfection, by the gateway of attaining purity of being, yoga, [and] knowledge.
▸Gītā Vāhini
“అటులయిన ఇక వేరు మార్గము లేదా అని విచారింతువేమో? ఉన్నది. ఏమన, నాకు ప్రీతిని కలిగించు కర్మలు చేయుటలో ఎవరు ఆసక్తిని చూపుదురో వారికి కూడనూ ఆత్మస్థితి కలుగును; మోక్షము సిద్ధించును. ప్రార్థన, భజన పూజాదులు సలుపుటచే పాపము నశించి అంతఃకరణ శుద్ధి అయి జ్ఞానోదయము కలుగును.” ఇట్లు శ్రీ కృష్ణభగవానుడు, సగుణ, నిర్గుణోపాసనల ద్వారా దైవానుగ్రహము సంపాదించు విధానము వివరించెను.
In plain words
“Perhaps you are anxious, asking, ‘If that is so, is there no other path at all?’ There is. It is this: whoever takes an interest in doing the karmas that please Me, for them too the state of the Ātma comes, and Mokṣa is attained. Through prayer, bhajan, pūjā and the like, sin is destroyed, the antaḥkaraṇa becomes pure, and Jñāna dawns.” In this way Śrī Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān explained the way to earn God's grace through saguṇa and nirguṇa upāsana.