2.47 Your right is to the action Krishna speaks
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
Your right is to the action alone, never to its fruits. Do not act for the sake of the fruit, and do not be attached to inaction either.
Explanation
The most quoted line in the book, and the most misread.
It is not do not care about outcomes. Arjuna is a soldier being told his claim extends to the action and never to its fruit.
And the second half is the half that gets dropped: do not be attached to inaction either. Both exits are closed in one verse.
Going further
Word by word
- karmaṇi
- in prescribed duties
- eva
- only
- adhikāraḥ
- right
- te
- your
- mā
- not
- phaleṣhu
- in the fruits
- kadāchana
- at any time
- mā
- never
- karma-phala
- results of the activities
- hetuḥ
- cause
- bhūḥ
- be
- mā
- not
- te
- your
- saṅgaḥ
- attachment
- astu
- must be
- akarmaṇi
- in inaction
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The most quoted line in the book, and the most misread. It is not do not care about outcomes. Arjuna is a soldier being told to fight a war; nobody is suggesting he be indifferent to who lives.
Read the second half, which usually gets dropped: and do not be attached to inaction either. Krishna closes both exits. You may not act in order to own the result, and you may not use that as a reason to sit down. What is left is the work itself, done as well as you can do it, released the moment it leaves your hands.
Anyone who has done good work that failed, or bad work that succeeded, already knows the fruit was never the part they controlled.