What does the saying ‘karma karo aur phal ki ichchaa mat karo — perform actions but don’t have any expectation for fruits of your actions’ mean?
— Shreya, 24 years
Krishna has said in the Bhagwad Gita, “Hey Arjuna! Do your karma, but don’t desire the fruit of your action.” This doesn’t mean that you will not get the fruit. It means that you should completely focus on the task at hand. When an action is performed with full concentration, in a fulfilling manner, then the fruit of action gets embedded in the action itself and springs forth from the purnata, completeness of action. But, if we flounder even before an action is completed and begin to imagine its results halfway through it, then our attachment to the fruit of action becomes bigger than the action itself. Hence, we get weaker results than what we had expected. The fruit of action can be either sweet or bitter, but if we thoroughly focus on performing the action to the best of our ability, then we become better at doing our karma. As a result, we begin to get suitable outcomes for the work done.
When our action becomes stronger and we don’t worry about its fruit, then results automatically become bigger and better. Many times it so happens that we get the fruit of action even before performing it, and we continue to wait for the result, thinking that it will come after we have finished performing the action. It is just like making advance payments for getting some work done; the payment is done even before the work commences.
Mostly, we are completely unaware whether we have received the fruit of action or will we get it in near future. If we detach ourselves from the outcomes of our actions and continue to perform them with gusto, patience and with full concentration, then gradually we will become karma yogis. Even a small action we perform will give us satisfactory outcomes. But if our karmas become smaller and the desire for fruits bigger, then we become frustrated, angry, sad and afraid. We may not be able to achieve anything that we set out to accomplish. ■
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