|| Shree Hari ||
Ram Ram
|| 2-47 ||
karmanyevaadhikaraas te, maa phaleshu kadaachanaa
maa karma-phala-hetur bhoor, maa te sango ’stv akarmani
“Your right is only to perform your duty, but never to claim its fruits. Therefore let neither the fruit of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.”
FROM “BHAGAVADGITA – SADHAK SANJIVANI” (Selected points only)
‘Karmanyevadhikaraste’ — Your right is only to fulfill your acquired duty, you are independent in it. This is because besides humans, no other life forms (animals; birds; insects, plants etc), are for performing new actions. Only human beings are eligible to perform new actions. God has bestowed this human birth, the very last of all births so that by performing new actions in the form of selfless service to others, a person may achieve salvation and be freed from the bondage of the birth and death cycle. If he remains engaged in selfish actions, these will result in bondage and if he does not do his duty and remains lazy and negligent, he will follow prey to repeated birth and death cycle. Therefore, Bhagwaan says that your rights are only to render selfless services for common good.
An important fact, which needs attention, is that favourable or unfavourable situations cannot make a man happy or sad. It is merely his ignorance, which makes him happy or sad as he identifies himself with those circumstances and becomes happy or sad. If he gives a serious thought, he will come to know that the external circumstances cannot make him either happy or sad. He should make proper use of the favourable circumstances by serving others and unfavorable circumstances, by renouncing the desire to enjoy pleasure.
‘Ma phalesu kadacana’—You cannot claim the least bit of rights over the fruit of action, in other words, for attaining the fruit you are not independent, because Bhagwaan is the dispenser of the fruit. Therefore not desiring the fruit, simply do your duty. If you perform actions with a desire for fruits, you will be bound “Phale sakto nibadhyate” (GIta 5/12). It is the desire for fruit that makes a person an agent for actions. When the desire for fruit is entirely wiped out, a sense of doer-ship also gets wiped away. When doer-ship is wiped out, a man in spite of doing things, is not bonded. Obliteration of the sense of doer-ship, does not lead a man to bondage as much as desire for fruit binds a man. *
Ways to be free from the desire for fruits of actions are as follows—
Desire causes a feeling of lacking something. Its fulfillment makes one a slave. Its non-fulfillment causes suffering. The pleasure derived out of fulfillment of desire, gives birth to new desires and a man in order to reap their fruit goes on getting interested in performing new actions. By understanding this point in the right perspective, a man automatically becomes free from the desire for the fruit of action.
Actions are not eternal as they have a beginning and an end. The fruits of action are also not eternal, as these too are received and later parted. But the self is eternal. How can the eternal get any benefit from the perishable? By understanding this point clearly, one becomes detached from the world and attains God-realization.
‘Ma karmaphalaheturbhuh’—Don’t become the cause for the fruits of action. It means, that you should not have the least attachment for the body, senses, mind and intellect etc., because attachment for these will make you responsible for the fruit of action.
‘Ma te sango’stvakarmani’—Let your attachment not be to inaction, because by leaning towards inaction, you will become lazy and idle, and like the desire for fruit it will also mislead you to bondage. The reason is that, indolence and prolonged sleep are also a form of enjoyment of pleasures.
Even a little equanimity protects one from the great danger of birth and death viz., it results in salvation. As actions done with an interested motive perish after bearing fruit, in that way even a little equanimity does not perish after bearing fruit but it only leads to salvation.
From “The Bhagavadgita – Sadhak Sanjivani” in Hindi, page 103-104 by Swami Ramsukhdasji|| Shree Hari ||
Ram Ram
The Bible Luke17:10 says,’So likewise,when you have done all things which you are commanded, say, ” We are unprofitable servants.We have done what it was our duty to do.”