Dear A....,
Regarding the Gita verse that you have explained:
KARMANYEVA ADHIKAARASTE MAA PHALESHU KADAACHANA
MAA KARMA PHALA HETUR BHUR MAA TE SANGOSTVAKARMANI
Bhagavad Gita - 2 - 47
1. KARMANYEVA ADHIKAARASTE
You can control (i.e. freely choose) action.
You are right about the confusion about the words adhikaara. General understanding is that you have a 'right or 'duty' to act but no 'right' over results. Adhikaara as choice or control makes for better meaning.
2. MAA PHALESHU KADAACHANA
Never over the results.
We can contol actions but not results. The results accrue because of universal laws of cause and effect. I can push a button to switch on the light, but if there is power shut down, mere pushing buttons cannot give me light. I have to find some other way.
3. MAA KARMA PHALA HETUR BHUR:
Do not be the cause of results.
This does not imply that we do not expect results. It just means leave it to the Laws to decide the results. You can only invoke the laws, you cannot control them. What is needed is to recognize that we cannot play god. We need to accept
the results sportingly.
Karma phala tyaaga - this is usually understood as "giving up" results, or "giving up expectation" of results. A better meaning would be "giving up expecting guarantee of results".
In an probabilistic and multi dimensional universe, there can be no guarantees. To expect guarantees is to cheat ourselves - our false expectations can hurt us because expectations do not match the truth.
4. MAA TE SANGOSTVAKARMANI:
Do not be attached to inaction.
If after all our efforts, the expected results do not come, we do not have to feel cheated and resort to inaction. It only means that we do not know the full dimensions of the law, or that we have not considered other unseen factors that contribute to the final result.
Instead of feeling disheartened, what we can do is to learn from the results and look into what went wrong. We can take the attitude of "exception proves the rule" and try to understand the law better.
Regarding the Gita verse that you have explained:
KARMANYEVA ADHIKAARASTE MAA PHALESHU KADAACHANA
MAA KARMA PHALA HETUR BHUR MAA TE SANGOSTVAKARMANI
Bhagavad Gita - 2 - 47
1. KARMANYEVA ADHIKAARASTE
You can control (i.e. freely choose) action.
You are right about the confusion about the words adhikaara. General understanding is that you have a 'right or 'duty' to act but no 'right' over results. Adhikaara as choice or control makes for better meaning.
2. MAA PHALESHU KADAACHANA
Never over the results.
We can contol actions but not results. The results accrue because of universal laws of cause and effect. I can push a button to switch on the light, but if there is power shut down, mere pushing buttons cannot give me light. I have to find some other way.
3. MAA KARMA PHALA HETUR BHUR:
Do not be the cause of results.
This does not imply that we do not expect results. It just means leave it to the Laws to decide the results. You can only invoke the laws, you cannot control them. What is needed is to recognize that we cannot play god. We need to accept
the results sportingly.
Karma phala tyaaga - this is usually understood as "giving up" results, or "giving up expectation" of results. A better meaning would be "giving up expecting guarantee of results".
In an probabilistic and multi dimensional universe, there can be no guarantees. To expect guarantees is to cheat ourselves - our false expectations can hurt us because expectations do not match the truth.
4. MAA TE SANGOSTVAKARMANI:
Do not be attached to inaction.
If after all our efforts, the expected results do not come, we do not have to feel cheated and resort to inaction. It only means that we do not know the full dimensions of the law, or that we have not considered other unseen factors that contribute to the final result.
Instead of feeling disheartened, what we can do is to learn from the results and look into what went wrong. We can take the attitude of "exception proves the rule" and try to understand the law better.
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