Surrender the ownership of outcomes

What the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ shloka (verse) really tells us

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥

The above shloka is from the ‘Srimad Bhagavad Gita’, among the most important scriptures belonging to the Sanatana Dharma (‘eternal dharma’) or the Hindu tradition’s religious-spiritual world. The Gita alongwith the Ramayana are the basis of the Indian spiritual or philosophical narrative.

In popular Hindu discourse (atleast in north-India) this shloka is read to mean:

“अपना कर्म कर, फल की चिंता मत कर”

This is loosely translated to English as:

Focus on doing your duty without worrying about the fruits (results) of your actions

This is hard isn’t it — doing our duty (actions) and not expecting results? This is how most Hindus have been raised to think about this shloka.

Recently, however, i was delighted to learn from a south Indian friend of mine that the interpretation of this shloka as i know it (and i am sure, as most north-Indians know of it) is inaccurate.

Krishna does not ask of Arjuna to not expect results or fruits of his action. The shloka actually correctly translates to something on these lines:

• that you have the right (adhikara; अधिकार) only to perform your actions/duty (your ‘dharma’)
• that you do not have the entitlement over the fruits of your action. In other words you do not have the claim (अधिकार) over the fruits of your action.
• however, this should not regress you to not doing your duty

What this essentially means for us is to develop and internalise an understanding that our success is often derived from factors external to us or outside of our control — outside of our smarts, plans, goals, strategies and even excellent execution of these strategies.

However, being human also means to be inflicted by both i) pride — becoming proud of our success, and ii) claiming ownership of the fruits of our action. When these feelings arise, my answer is to express gratitude to Life and that causes a sense of surrender.

Practicing gratitude and surrender is a liberating space to operate from in our work and social lives.

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A comment came in from one my friends Nilesh Oak on this post…which deserves to not be lost in comments. Hence posting it here as an addendum to my post:

It can be also understood as follows: If one performs an action, there will be fruits of action. These may be desirable or undesirable, these may be as expected or as not expected.

The tamasic individual says, If I am not going to get the fruit, I will not do action.

The rajasic individual says, If I am going to do action, I am entitled to the fruit of my action, too.

Krishna’s advice is for all of us to embrace ‘Satvika’. It is true that if there in action, there will be fruits of action. And one doing the action is entitled to the fruits of actions. However, Krishna is asking to voluntarily give away the right over the fruits of actions.

As to why is he asking to voluntarily give away the right over the fruit on actions… it would be another discourse…