कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥ ४७ ॥
karmaṇy evādhikāras te
mā phaleṣu kadācana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr
mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi
Synonyms
karmaṇi — in prescribed duties; eva — certainly; adhikāraḥ — right; te — of you; mā — never; phaleṣu — in the fruits; kadācana — at any time; mā — never; karma–phala — in the result of the work; hetuḥ — cause; bhūḥ — become; mā — never; te — of you; saṅgaḥ — attachment; astu — there should be; akarmaṇi — inaction.
(The above portion is taken directly from vedabase.io)
Translation
You have to perform your duty, but you have no right to expect the desired fruits of action. Also do not consider yourself as causing the consequence (desirable or undesirable) of your activities, and never be attached to inaction.
My interpretation
There are four concepts addressed here: duty, expected consequence, cause of result and inaction.
Let us take this one by one:
Duty: What is duty? Being kind, just, compassionate and generous is your duty. It is the work you choose to do and role you play. As a child, as a student, as a parent, as an employee, as a sibling, a friend you have various roles and each role comes with a duty. Your role is to fulfil these duties in the most satisfying way to yourself.
Expected desired consequence: This is the fulfilment of your expectation upon fulfilling your duty. The satisfaction could be in the form of rewards like promotion, first rank, praise, etc.
Unexpected undesirable consequence: This is not just not getting the desired reward but something unexpected and not desirable happening. Like you go for a vacation for some enjoyment – and you lose your baggage that ruins it all. So not only no enjoyment but also a loss to suffer.
Cause of result: This is tricky – You set out to do something and may or may not reap the rewards of your action – but whatever it is – you are not the cause of the result – The desired or undesired result could be due to many other factors, not just your effort.
Inaction: Inaction means giving up – giving up the duties due to not getting the desired results – It could be manifest as getting depressed, low and indulging in unconscious meaningless consumption or waste of time, money, food or any other resource.
So now what Krishna advises to Arjuna in the Bhagawat Geeta is this:
You have to perform your duty, but you have no right to claim the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to inaction.
In simpler terms for all of us,
We have to do our duty but we need to let go of expectations.
Even if you did your duty and got the desired result, it is not you who have caused the result. So don’t get all puffed up. Too many factors are at play to let you win! Be grateful.
So also do not blame yourself if things do not go the way you want. You are not the sole cause even for this undesirable result.
If you did not expect anything in particular– you wouldn’t be attached to the consequence. So don’t give up. You are only responsible for doing your duty.
So keep doing your duty. Do not stop doing and give up your duty because you did not see the results you wanted.
And that is the reason to keep going, keep moving, keep doing good for whoever you can. There is no stopping.
Translated to the practise of meditation and mindfulness, it amounts to observing your breath without trying to reach any goal. When your mind wanders simply notice it and come back to the breath and start again. When you give up the need to meditate perfectly (whatever that means for you) you’ll begin to enjoy the process and not get fixated on the goal.
And so it is for everything that you do.
If you don’t get time to read the Bhagawat Geeta – just learning and trying to live this shloka will take you far in life. This is chapter 2 verse 47. An interesting number. Shift the decimal and it becomes 24.7. Live this shloka 24/7 and you are truly practising mindfulness.
To get an idea about meditation and mindfulness, you might want to checkout the FREE Five-days Introduction to Meditation and Mindfulness here.
Bell The Mind 