"You have a right to perform your duty, but not to enjoy the fruits"

People normally work because they expect some result, like a salary or some other benefit. This type of work conditions us to the material world. In the Gita, Krsna shows us a better path.

In the second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita, Krsna explains to Arjuna:

"You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty."

An alternative reading of the first line of verse (karmaṇy evādhikāras te) is: Your qualification (adhikara) is to perform activities (karma). This can help to understand the translation of Srila Prabhupada.

Krsna tells Arjuna that he has the right to perform his prescribed duties because that is his adhikara, or qualification. He is not qualified to peacefully meditate like a Brahmana, and therefore he should not try to imitate this activity. Instead, he should perform his duty as a Ksatriya, but with the right consciousness. By executing his duty without attachment, as an offering to the Lord, there would be no question of karmic reaction. This would bring the best result to himself and to his relatives. Prescribed duties are prescribed not only because they are the activities that bring the best results for ourselves, but because they bring benefits for the whole society. There are different levels of duty, some more elevated than others, but among all of them, surrendering to the Lord and working for Him in devotion is supreme. That's the path Krsna is bringing Arjuna to with His instructions.

These instructions are made clear in the other three lines of the verse, where Krsna gives three negatives (mā, never) indicating how the instruction of performing one's duties should be performed:

a) mā phaleṣu kadācana: Never desire the results of your actions.

b) mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr: Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities.

c) mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi: Never be attached to not performing your duty.

These instructions are explained in detail in the next chapters of the Gita. Like in other topics, a summary is given in the 2nd chapter and the instructions are expanded and explained in the further chapters.

In his purport, Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the difference between prescribed duties, capricious work, and inaction (karma, vikarma, and akarma), which are terms very important for understanding the Gita. We tend to think of karma as the results of our activities, but in the context of the Gita, karma is used in the sense of activity, or in the sense of performing one's duties as prescribed in the scriptures. In this way, when Krsna says to Arjuna that his qualification is to perform karma, he is referring to his prescribed duties as a Ksatriya. On the other side, we have capricious work, or vikarma, that are activities contrary to the prescriptions of the scriptures. The scriptures say that we should not at meat, we shouldn't drink, etc. if we do these things, we are performing vikarma.

Finally, there is inaction (akarma), which has two meanings depending on the context. One form of inaction is action in Krsna consciousness because work for Krsna does not result in any material reactions. The logic is similar to when we describe Krsna as avyakta (unmanifested) to indicate that He has no material form (even though He possesses a spiritual form.

Because action in Krsna Consciousness brings only spiritual results, it is called akarma. Another form of akarma is to neglect one's duties. In this case, although one is not performing any physical action, he is becoming entangled in reactions for neglecting one's duties. For example, if a mother does nothing and her baby dies, she may go to jail, exactly for doing nothing. Our negligence affects other people, and thus we become entangled in the karmic consequences. Arjuna wanted to leave the battlefield to meditate under a tree, thinking that this was going to save him from the reaction, but Krsna adverts him: mā te saṅgo ’stv akarmaṇi: Do not be attached to neglecting your duty (akarmaṇi), because this will entangle you in karmic reactions.

Another important point is indicated in the line mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr (Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities). In reality, the soul has no power to perform any kind of material action. All the actions we perform are performed by the actions of the three material modes, acting through the subtle and physical body. In other words, all our actions are executed by the interaction of different energies of the Lord, under the sanction of the Supersoul. When we perform our activities according to the instructions of the Lord, without negligence, without being attached to the results, and without considering ourselves the cause of the activities, we act in true knowledge. As long as we see ourselves as just instruments of the Lord, acting according to His instructions, be it out of love or duty, we perform akarma, and there is no question of material reactions. However, when we claim credit for what we do, considering ourselves the cause and claiming the results, then we have to accept also the karmic results, good and bad. In other words, when we understand Krsna is acting and we just see ourselves as his representatives, Krsna takes away all the reactions, but when we consider ourselves the cause, then we take the reactions upon ourselves.

This topic of the intricacies of action is thoroughly explained in other chapters of the Gita. This is one of the main topics of the book. As Krsna mentions, even the intelligent are confused about the intricacies of this topic.

Another central topic in the Gita is the word "yoga". Often we use the word "yoga" in the sense of bodily exercises, or the process of astanga-yoga, but in the Gita, Krsna uses the term in the sense of "connection with the Lord". As He mentions, when we perform our duties with an equipoised mind, without attachment to the results, our work becomes the means for connecting ourselves to Krsna. We may not be able to surrender completely and think about Him 24 hours, and we may not even be able to follow all the regulations of the process of devotional service very strictly, but by just receiving the knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita and working for Him, we can also attain perfection.

Technically speaking, the process Krsna describes in these verses is called karma-yoga, or action in Krsna Consciousness. When karma-yoga is performed with attachment to the fruits of work, it is called sakama-karma-yoga, when is practiced at a higher level, without attachment, it is called niskama-karma-yoga, and when it is perfected through knowledge, it is called buddhi-yoga. Practically speaking, however, both sakama-karma-yoga and niskama-karma-yoga, as well as buddhi-yoga are integral steps of the process of devotional service, therefore Prabhupada consistently translates the terms as "devotional service". We can see that in verse 49, for example, he translates dūreṇa hy avaraṁ karma, buddhi-yogād dhanañ-jaya (keep away all abominable activities by performing buddhi-yogā) as "O Dhanañjaya, keep all abominable activities far distant by devotional service".

In his purport, Prabhupada defines buddhi-yoga as "transcendental loving service to the Lord", and concludes that except for work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, all activities are abominable because they bind us to the cycle of birth and death. Vikarma is obviously bad because it results in sinful reactions that bring us in the direction of hell and animal life, but pious fruitive work according to the recommendation of the Vedas (karma-kanda) is also bad because it results in pious results that force us to assume new material bodies to enjoy in the celestial planets or as rich persons. The only process that can completely free us from material contamination is the process of devotional service, and this is emphasized by the Lord throughout the Bhagavad-Gita.

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