This summary is about verses 2.47 to 2.51 of the second chapter of the Gita. It is the second stop on the road of karma yoga. Before it is Buddhi Yoga: The Resolute Intellect. There the matter was understanding, and here it is working from that understanding. After it comes Can We Simply Stop Acting?.

The answer in one line

The work is ours, the fruit is not. This is not indifference. It is a more skilful way of working. Do the work with the whole mind, keep no claim on the result, and keep the mind even in success and failure. Care goes into the work, not into clinging to the outcome.

What problem this answers

Can we give our full effort and still not be crushed by the weight of the result? The student, the shopkeeper and the mother all care about the result. Is that care wrong?

These verses were spoken to a warrior whose results will fall on thousands of lives. For the one with the heaviest load, this is the most useful word.

Five verses, five questions

Verse 2.47 asks: what is mine? The answer is that the right is to action alone, never to its fruit. Do not make the fruit the reason for acting, and do not cling to not acting either.

Verse 2.48 asks: how do I hold on to it? The answer is to stand in yoga and act, give up attachment, and stay even in success and failure. This evenness is yoga.

Verse 2.49 asks: why is this road better? The answer is that action done from desire for the fruit is far below action done with an even mind, so take shelter in understanding. Those who act for the fruit are pitiable.

Verse 2.50 asks: what is this called? The answer is that the one with an even mind leaves behind both good and bad deeds here itself. Skill in action is yoga.

And verse 2.51 asks: where does it lead? The answer is that the wise, giving up the fruit of action, are freed from the bond of birth and reach a state free of sorrow.

The main points to remember

The four parts of verse 2.47 stop four mistakes

The right is to action, so carelessness stops. No right to the fruit, so worry stops. Do not be the cause of the fruit, so greed stops, which is making the fruit the reason, and pride stops too, which is thinking "I alone made this result". And no attachment to inaction, so sitting back from work stops (Gita 2.47).

Why the fruit is not in our hands

Any act has five causes: the ground it stands on, the doer, the means, the many efforts, and fifth, fate (Gita 18.14–15). We are only one of the five. So to write the result wholly in our own name, or to take the whole responsibility on our head, are both errors of accounting.

Evenness is not coldness

A cold man does not care. An even man cares, but the caring does not bring him down. Attachment does not mean wanting a result. It means clinging to it and breaking when it does not come. A swimmer does not fight the current. He moves his arms with it. The arms keep moving.

Steadiness comes with the work, not after it

The words "stand in yoga and act" say this. It is not that the mind will be calm after the result. The mind has to be held while the work is being done.

When the fruit drives the work, the work follows the fruit

When the fruit looks near, there is hurry and corners get cut. When it looks far, work stops. When understanding drives, the work follows what is right. "Pitiable" is no contempt. It is the name of a state in which peace rests on some outer result.

What skill means

Skill means attention moving off the result and settling wholly on the work. In an exam, the student who writes without listening for the examiner's reaction writes better. A carpenter's eye is on the edge of the plane, not on the customer's money. Attention leaving the result does not spoil the result. It improves it.

Freedom is not a bargain

If this is read as "give up the fruit and you will get a bigger fruit", desire only returns under another name. Attachment was the bond. When it goes, what remains is freedom, as a rope slackens when the knot is opened. Peace comes with it (Gita 5.12, Gita 12.12).

Clinging to the fruit leads to anger

The course is: dwelling on it, attachment, desire, anger, loss of discernment (Gita 2.62–63). Giving up the claim cuts the very first link.

The word "fruit" is wide

It is not only today's result. The fruit of merit, the pleasure of the next world and high position are fruit too (Gita 2.43). Whether the reward is here or there, the mind comes back to the work.

The Lord Himself acts in this way

He has nothing to gain, yet He keeps on acting (Gita 3.22). He has no wish for the fruit, so actions do not bind Him (Gita 4.14).

Effort is not lost

Effort on this road is never wasted (Gita 2.40). Even if the result does not come today, the work stays stored.

When the result comes

In success there is less room for pride, because you are not the only cause of the fruit. In failure evenness stays, the breaking is small, and room to learn remains (Gita 4.22).

Four ways of working

The first way is work with a wish for the fruit. It is driven by pleasure, ego and rushing about. The Gita calls it restless and tiring (Gita 18.24).

The second is work without thought. It is driven by delusion, with no regard for the result or for one's own ability. The Gita calls it dull and lost (Gita 18.25).

The third is work done as duty, with attachment given up. It is driven by "this ought to be done." The Gita calls it pure action (Gita 18.9, Gita 18.23).

And the fourth is work offered up. All actions are handed over to the Lord, and there is neither ownership nor fever (Gita 3.30).

The second way proves that not caring is not nishkama karma. The Gita calls it dull and lost. Weighing the result, with the loss and one's own strength, is preparation. Clinging to it is bondage.

Three questions can be asked before work. Is this work mine, that is, my own duty (Gita 18.47)? Have I weighed the result, the loss and my own strength (Gita 18.25)? And can I do this as an offering (Gita 3.30)?

Common misunderstandings

The first misunderstanding is that one should not care about the result. That is not so. Care goes into the work. Work without care is dull and lost.

The second is that one should keep no goal. That is not so. The aim stays. The claim and the fever go.

The third is that the result is not in my hands, so effort is not needed. That is not so. Verse 2.47 itself forbids drawing back from work (Gita 2.47).

The fourth is that this is for monks and renunciants. That is not so. The verse was said to a warrior. When the stakes are high, the weight of the result shakes judgment.

The fifth is that giving up the fruit means giving up your right. That is not so. Wages, thanks and results can be taken. What goes is the grip on them (Gita 4.22).

And the sixth is that this is fatalism. That is not so. The fatalist gives up effort. Here full effort is asked.

How to take it up

There is a plain order for taking this up. First pick out today's work that is truly yours (Gita 2.47). Do it with full attention (Gita 2.50). When the mind runs towards the result, bring it back to the work (Gita 2.48). Meet victory and defeat in the same way (Gita 2.48). And offer whatever comes (Gita 3.30).

There is also a test. For a task whose result makes you restless, do it as if nobody will ever see the result. In the evening see how the work went and how the mind stayed.

If you have to explain it in thirty seconds

The Gita does not say do not care about the result. It says put the care into the work and do not cling to the outcome. The work is yours. The fruit rests on five causes, and you are only one of them. When the fruit drives the work, the work gets worse. When attention is on the work, the work improves. That is why "skill in action is yoga." If the mind stays the same in victory and defeat, the bond loosens, and freedom is its natural result, not a wage.

Related hubs: Buddhi Yoga: The Resolute Intellect (before) · Can We Simply Stop Acting? (next) · Equanimity · Who Is the Doer? · One's Own Duty · Offering All Actions · Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound