Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 47

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि

karmaṇyevādhikāraste mā phaleṣu kadācana | mā karmaphalaheturbhūrmā te saṅgo'stvakarmaṇi

Translation

Thy concern is with action alone, never with results. Let not the fruit of action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be for inaction.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

karmaṇi

in action

eva

only

adhikāraḥ

right

te

thee

mā

not

phaleṣu

in the fruits

kadācana

at any time

mā

not

karmaphalahetuḥ

of action, fruit, motive — whose, he [the doer]

bhūḥ

be

mā

not

te

thy

saṅgaḥ

attachment

astu

let (there) be

akarmaṇi

in inaction

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

Thy right (adhikāra) is to action alone, never at any time to its fruits. Do not, in any action you undertake, fancy yourself the cause of its fruit; if you think yourself the cause of the fruit, you are tied to the fruit through that very thought, and so to saṃsāra. Nor let thy attachment be for the abstention from action — do not say, "since I cannot have the fruit, why should I act at all?" Both extremes are renounced. The action enjoined by Scripture (śāstra) is performed as duty, free from desire for fruit and from aversion to its performance. This is the cardinal principle of Karma-yoga, returned to repeatedly throughout the Gītā.