Simple answers to your questions on Hinduism are provided here.
Use the search button (top right on desktop, top left on smartphones) to find specific topics of interest. At the bottom of each answer, check the “Tags” section for related topics. To learn more about this Q&A project, click [here].
On Hinduism
You can also download an earlier collection: 300QAs on Hinduism (PDF). Thank you.
The verse Gita 2:47 reads:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
Literal meaning: You have the right only to action, never to its results. Do not think yourself the cause of the results of action, and do not be attached to inaction.
- The first phrase, कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते (karmaṇy-evādhikāras te), means you are entitled to action alone. As a human being with free will, your “right” lies in doing.
- The second phrase, मा फलेषु कदाचन (mā phaleṣhu kadācana), teaches that you never have ownership of the results. Even if your action contributes to success, the outcome is shaped by many other factors—seen and unseen—beyond your control.
Key insight:
Focusing only on results makes happiness conditional and fragile. If results don’t come, disappointment follows; if they do, fear of losing them sets in. By contrast, giving full attention to meaningful action in the present brings peace, regardless of outcome.
Thus, the Gita’s teaching is not to abandon goals but to act with dedication, without clinging to results. The past belongs to intention, the future to results—but the present moment belongs to action.
Contributor: Manju Gupta
Location of this post (7f): https://www.hinduspeakers.org/ufaqs/what-does-this-mean-ma-phaleshu-kadachana-gita-247/
Category:
07. Scriptures