Transliteration
kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṃ siddhiṃ yajanta iha devatāḥ |
kṣipraṃ hi mānuṣe loke siddhir-bhavati karmajā || 12 ||
Translation
Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the eities(Devatas). Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world.
Purport
This is one of the very important Shloka on the subject of worshipping deities. This Shloka explains the significance of worshipping deities.
Bhagvan Shri Krishna explains that, those people who want to have worldly success and see the results of their actions, worship deities using appropriate methods. Bhagvan Shri Krishna already explained in Chapter 3(Shlok#11) that deities are created at the start of creation for the very purpose of catering to the physical needs of humans and other living beings.
There are different deities for different physical needs. In short, deities are like the
ministry of God with specific purpose and powers.
Bhagvan further explains that if humans worship appropriate deities with pure intentions and worship methods they would attain the physical success they intend to. As we know we worship Mother Saraswati for Knowledge, mother Laxmi and Kuber for prosperity, Shri Ganesh for general wellbeing and knowledge, Shri Shiva for the long life and health, etc.
