The yoga of knowledge, and the turning of Arjuna's grief

Bhagavad Gita 2.47

Source: verified public-domain translation.

Original text

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥

Transliteration

karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana | mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi ||

Translation

“Thy right is to work only, but never to its fruits; let not the fruit of action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction.”

Translation · Swami Sivananda

Context

Spoken to Arjuna after he has refused to fight. Krishna is not offering career advice. In the dramatic setting, Arjuna must act in a war he dreads. The verse distinguishes adhikara (what is one's to do) from phala (the fruit). Later readers apply it to ordinary work; that application is interpretation, not the scene itself.

Commentary

Traditional commentary

Advaita Vedanta · Shankara's line of reading (paraphrased from the Gita-bhashya's emphasis)

Action belongs to the empirical self operating in the world of gunas. Clinging to results binds. The verse is not a licence for carelessness; it is a discipline of motive. SVARUPA paraphrases this emphasis rather than quoting a copyrighted English bhashya in full.

Reference · Traditional Advaita emphasis on nishkama karma in Gita 2.47

SVARUPA reflection

Modern interpretation · SVARUPA editorial

You can give yourself fully to an action without knowing exactly how the outcome will unfold. That is not indifference. It is a way of loosening the panic that the future must already be secured. This is a modern psychological reading, not what the battlefield scene literally says.

Enter to save or sit Explore interpretations