Bhagvad Gita commonly known as Gita is a 700 verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharat.
It is a dialogue between Pandava Prince Arjun and his mentor and charioteer Lord Krishna.
At the start of the Dharm Yudh ( battle for rights) between Kauravas and Pandavas, it fills Arjun with despair and dilemma over the magnitude of violence and deaths that the battle will cause on his elders and youngsters.
He tells Lord Krishna that he wishes to retract from the battlefield and seeks His counsel. Lord Krishna then gives answers to all his doubts. It is these answers and discourse that make up the Bhagvad Gita.
To convince Arjun to fight Lord Krishna takes his chariot in the middle of the battlefield and counsels him to uphold Dharma through selfless action and fulfill his duty without thinking of the result.
Arjun is not satisfied and again tells Lord Krishna :
“Madhav (another name of Lord Krishna), all those standing opposite to me are my own. What is the use of fighting against my own for just a piece of land? “
He further laments: “The ones standing there are my respected uncles and my dear cousins. What will I gain by killing them? Madhav, won’t I be sinning by killing them? Instead, I would prefer that they kill me here itself”.
Then Lord Krishna gets up from the seat of the charioteer and gives him a few inspirational advices. These pieces of advice are beautifully explained in the Bhagvad Gita.
Among all the teachings I think the one that He gives to Arjun, the one given below is the most famous verse in Mahabharat, Chapter II, verse 47. Krishna says :
“ कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥“
( “Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani “)
Let’s see what does this mean:
Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou Kada chana - You have the right to perform your actions, but they do not entitle you to the fruits of the actions.
Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani – Do not let the fruit be the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t be attached to not doing your duty.
Lord Krishna explains to him about his duties. The above verse, which is among the most famous verse in Mahabharat, is one of those explanations he has given.
Let us study the context:
In this case, Krishna says: “Kaunteya (Arjun) no matter what the result of the war is, you should not be worried about it. It is your duty to fight, and you must fight. It is not important whether you win or lose. Even if you die during the war, you will attain heaven because you would have correctly performed your duty.”
Now coming to the second phrase of the above verse:
Krishna advises “ Arjun you should never let the fruit be the purpose of your action,”
In this case, the action is his fight and the fruit is either he wins or loses. He is not supposed to worry about victory or defeat. Either one wins or loses; he must be neutral about it.
In simple terms, it means: Keep on performing your duties without being attached to the result of your actions. Either you get something or you get nothing, you should not worry about it. You should have a neutral behaviour.
Well, let us relate that in our context as a human being: As an example of a student–It is his duty to study, whether he passes or fails that’s not in his control. The student does not study just for the sake of passing his exams. When he studies, he learns. Whether he passes or fails he should not be too happy or too sad about it.
If ever a student studies for the sole purpose of passing his exams, in the end, he has learned nothing even if he has passed. But if he studies because he considers learning and studying as his duty, he won’t even need to be worried whether he will pass or fail, but still, he should not be happy or sad about it. Why? Because the most important is at least he performed his duty well.
We can also relate this preaching to the conditions of the worst phase of “KAAL” that we are passing through today, i.e. the pandemic ‘Corona’.
Our Corona Warriors, salute to them, are performing their duties 24X7X365 and helping the patients to recover from the dreaded and fatal disease. They work long hours without caring for their own lives, as they are also at risk of contracting the fatal virus.
They do their duty without knowing the results of their duty – the patient may or may not survive, but they continue the duty without thinking about the fruit of their actions.
Note: In Bhagavad Gita, As It Is, By Swami Prabhupada, the part Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhur means, never to consider ourselves to be the cause of the result of our activities. This is right too because when we consider ourselves to be the cause of the result of our actions, we will be tempted to be attached to that result.
So when we do something we are not supposed to take the credit for the fruit of our action. We consider that it is our duty, so we did it. Today how many of us believe in this principle? What does this verse mean to us today???
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Grt writing
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