Decoding Most popular verse of The Bhagwat Geeta .....

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। 

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ 

This most popular and widely used verse from Bhagwat Geeta is also most misunderstood and highly mistranslated verse. Isn't it weird that what is poplar verse itself is misconceptualised? if this is the case with this verse than what level of understanding we have in other less popular verses? 

Let's not stick to it and comeback to the given verse.

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। 

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ 

In Chapter 2 popularly known as Sankhya Yoga , Lord Krishna told this shloka to Arjuna. Before understanding it it is required to know that what exactly Sankhya yoga communicates. In brief by Sankhya yog Shri Krishna introduce all various Hindu/Indian Philosophy of Karma ,Gyan and Bhakti Yoga to Arjuna. So it is also known as nectar/ essence of Geeta.

Let's translate this verse literally.

कर्मण्य/Karmanya = In the work
एव/Eva = Only
अधिकार/Adhikar = Right

ते/Te =  Your

मा/Ma = No/Not
फलेषु/Phaleshu = In the fruit/result 

कदाचन/Kadachana = Ever 

मा/Ma = No/Not
कर्मफल/Karmaphala =  result or fruit of the work.
हेतु /हेतु = motive
भु /bhu = be
मा/Ma = No/Not ते/Te =  Your
संग /Sang =attachment 
अस्तु /Astu = Let there be
अकर्मणि /Akarmani = In action

YOUR RIGHT IS ONLY IN THE WORK AND NEVER IN THE RESULT

YOUR MOTIVE OF WORK SHOULD NOT BE ITS RESULT, AND NEVER ATTACH TO INACTION.

However in popular culture this verse is understood as

YOU DO YOUR WORK AND DON'T EXCEPT RESULTS....

Actually Shri Krishna never told dont except results. He says fruits are out of your own area of right. For an example , Using best cooking practices, proper recipes, knowledge of consumer's choice all can be employed and food can also be made with pure feelings. till this point my ( anybody who cook's) right  exists. To eat it, Criticizing it, Appreciating it all lie's in rights of consumer. This not at all mean that One should not expect appreciation for food he/ she made , but he / she should not feel bad if that doesn't happen as it is beyond one's boundary of rights.

in Second line it rather clarifies the thought. For whatever work you do the motive should not be achieving result. As result is actually a side product of task. Actual product is felling of contentment of self. However in this course you shouldn't get inclined towards Inaction. 

In one of the talk with students of Dang District of Gujarat then CM Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi explained 

" when our work is pending we feel stress and ultimately fatigue, when it is done we dont feel fatigue rather contentment."

Is it clear now? However in next post few more examples I will put my thoughts forward on same verse.

If you have any specific query regarding this verse please mention it in comments. It will help me to go in more depth and and share those thoughts.

Till then Jai shri Krishna......

A word on Master Recipe

Unfortunately human being is not 100% immune to physical, Chemical or biological hazards/ accidents. When any of the above occur , to get back to normal we consult a Doctor.This is very common and all of us has experienced it. but we rarely know few common things that happen around us in those scenario. I am just giving example of doctors , otherwise we are really poor in observation and much poor in answering the question your mind ask ( if your observe). Such is one question what does Rx means , which is written on prescription by doctors? few of us who belong to Medical / paramedical science must be knowing it. It stands for RECIPE. As in early days of western medical science doctors use to write recipe ( quantity and name of medicine), which was then made by pharmacist for patient.

If this is recipe then what is master recipe? for that we need to move from medical science to culinary science. In western cuisine there is one very popular culinary term " Fond de Cuisine" which literally means Stock of the Cuisine/ Kitchen. which is used in almost all preparation that kitchen make. As master key open all locks , Fond de cuisine makes all dishes. So it can be called Master Stock. Recipe of it is not called master recipe but it is master recipe if we look at it from said perspective.

Coming back to medical science , most illness cured by Doctors are physical. ( I used the word Most and not all : )) then what is the recipe which can cure psychological illness, Mental Illness, Social illness , financial Illness ? do we need different recipe of medicine to cure all of this? Is it possible that we have one concise recipe which cures all this illness or I would say prevent us for getting sick by any of the said illness? 

As mentioned in last post I generally get answers to life from all Ancient Indian scriptures and essence of all is found in Life of Shri Krishna. If all scriptures gives recipe to cure an individual illness, Shri Krishna's Life give Master recipe of medicine which can cure all.

A word on "Dharma"

Being  regularly irregular reader of ancient Indian texts (commonly mistaken as Spiritual/ Religious or Myth)Always found answers to the question constantly arise in flow of life. As mentioned I don't consider Vedas, Upanishads, Aaranyak and for that matter Ramayana and Mahabharata as literature of religion or myth. As those grand books were flowing with blood in veins and arteries of Indians much before invention of the word religion and Myth. whatever little I read, Actual  translation of the word Religion is still unknown to me. If your mind has translated it as "Dharma" then with sincere apologies I must say meaning of dharma crosses the boundary Drawn by meaning of Religion. To be more precise Religion is defined in popular culture as Faith and worship of Super human controlling authority , may be God or gods. While Dharma in Sanskrit literally means one who hold is dharma. Something which holds you is dharma. in simpler terms Being a Chef Managing food production is my duty , My existence as a chef is only when I perform that duty. So performing my duty holds my existence as a chef , So Managing food production is my Dharma (which holds My existence as a Chef). My dharma changes with each role i perform in this world. As a Son, As a Husband , As a Father , As a Brother , and so on and so forth. In each case My duties changes and so My Dharma. My duties towards the superhuman power which controls the world is My Religion ( Just a small part of my Larger Dharma).

Coming back to the beginning I pen down following points
1. As that literature  doesn't only talk about God/gods they cannot be termed as religious literature.
2. As few of them are believed ( By faith) as historical events of Indian subcontinent cannot be termed as Myth.

As I believe in this my writings will be influenced by them at many stages. Apart from that I wanted to clarify term Dharma as it is the first word of the evergreen theory of Management , popularly known as Gita. on which I am trying to explain my understanding of this phenomenal literature.