VedaLingo Editorial · October 2026 · 9 min read
Bhagavad Gita 2.47 — Original Sanskrit
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
karmaṇy evādhikāraste mā phaleṣu kadācana |
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi ||
"You have the right to perform your duty, but never to the fruits of action.
Never be the cause of the fruits of action, nor let your attachment be to inaction."
कर्म (karma — action) in locative case. Your domain is action — not results.
An emphatic particle. "Only in action." Not in results. Not in reward. Only here.
अधिकार (adhikāra — right, entitlement) + ते (te — your). You have full authority here.
A negative particle of prohibition — stronger than na (न). Never, under any circumstance.
फल (phala — fruit, result, outcome) in locative plural. The outcome of what you do.
An absolute — "not at any time, not ever." The prohibition is total and timeless.
Repeated for emphasis at the start of the second line.
कर्म-फल (action-result) + हेतु (hetu — cause) + भूः (bhūḥ — be). Do not consider yourself the author of outcomes.
Third मा — the prohibition appears three times across the verse.
Possessive — your attachment, your inaction, your avoiding.
सङ्ग (saṅga — attachment) + अकर्मण (akarmaṇi — inaction). Do not use this teaching as an excuse to do nothing.
This verse is so often quoted as a productivity mantra — "focus on effort, not outcome" — that its deeper meaning gets lost. Krishna is not just giving Arjuna career advice. He is addressing a specific problem: Arjuna has dropped his bow because he is paralysed by fear of the result. What if he loses? What if he wins but grieves? What if his action is wrong?
Krishna's answer is surgical. He is saying: the only thing you have control over is your action right now, in this moment.The result is not yours to control or claim. Not because results don't matter — they do — but because making the result the reason for your action corrupts the action itself.
The third prohibition — mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi — is the one people forget. "Let there be no attachment to inaction." Krishna knows that someone can hear "don't crave results" and use it as an excuse not to act at all. He closes that door explicitly: non-action is not the teaching. Action without attachment is.
The Three Prohibitions — मा मा मा
मा फलेषु कदाचन
Never claim the fruits of your actions
You don't control outcomes. Storms, people, time — too many variables. Attaching your identity to the result is the source of anxiety.
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूः
Never see yourself as the cause of the results
This goes deeper: even your best action doesn't guarantee the result you intend. Many causes contribute. Ego says "I made this happen" — wisdom knows it's more complex.
मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि
Never be attached to inaction
This seals the teaching. You can't use "detachment from results" as a reason to do nothing. Your duty still demands action — just action without clinging.
The Bhagavad Gita has 700 verses. This is not the most complex. It is not the longest. But it is the verse that people return to at 3 AM when they are about to give up on something they love.
Because the anxiety that Arjuna feels on that battlefield — what's the point if it doesn't work out the way I hope? — is the same anxiety every human feels before every meaningful act.
Krishna doesn't answer by promising success. He answers by reframing what success means. Your job is the action. The result is not your department.
Context in the Bhagavad Gita
This verse appears in Chapter 2 — Sankhya Yoga, known as the yoga of knowledge. It is verse 47 of 72. At this point:
Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana means: "You have the right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions." The full verse continues: "Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty." This is verse 2.47 of the Bhagavad Gita, spoken by Krishna to Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.
Karmanye (कर्मण्ये) means "in action" or "to action." It comes from the word Karma (कर्म — action, deed) in the locative case. Vadhikaraste (वाधिकारस्ते) combines va (your) + adhikarah (right, authority) + te (you) — meaning "your right/authority is." Together: "your authority is in action."
Bhagavad Gita 2.47 teaches the philosophy of Karma Yoga — selfless action. Krishna tells Arjuna that every person has full authority over their actions, but no authority over the results. The teaching has two layers: practically, it means focus on your work, not the outcome (reduces anxiety, improves performance). Philosophically, it means the ego's attachment to results is the root of suffering — releasing that attachment is the path to freedom.
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🕉️ Learn the Sanskrit in this article
धर्म
Dharma
Righteous duty, cosmic order
संस्कृत
Saṃskṛta
"Perfected" — from sam + kṛta
ज्ञान
Jñāna
Knowledge, wisdom, insight