​What is the meaning of Gita 2.47 – don’t think of yourself as the cause of the result?

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So what does ma karma phala hetur bhur mean don’t think of yourself as the cause of the fruit cause of the fruit, cause of the result what does it mean 2.47 is a fairly complicated word and I just gave one mode of analysis of it various different ways in which it can be analysed so now ma karma phala hetur bhur let the let the fruit not be the goal of your work, what it means is Krishna is in the context of the Bhagavad Gita, this is a slightly technical explanation I’ll give Krishna is asking Arjuna to rise from Karmakand to Karma Yoga towards Nishkama Karma Yoga and in Nishkama Karma Yoga one does work not for getting the result of the work one does work for growing in knowledge just like to give a simple example in something which you can relate in our life, there are students we all have students and students study to gain marks that can be one motive for studies but sometimes there are some students who are really interested in the subject somebody goes into physics because they are they are very much into physics most students they may just study their text books or they may study some last minute revision notes just get the knowledge that is required for passing the exams but there are the students who are very interested in the subject they not only study the text book, they study the reference book, they study the foreign author’s book and they learn a lot so what happens is when somebody is studying for marks they don’t really grow much in knowledge but when somebody is somebody’s motive is not marks they are studying, but they are studying to grow in knowledge so the activity is the same, studies but in one case they are studying for marks, another case they are studying because they are interested in the subject they want to grow in the knowledge of the subject so something similar, when some people may work they work simply for the fruits but in Nishkama Karma Yoga one works because one understands that by doing my duty that Jnana and Vairag will grow so when one works not for the results but for the growth of knowledge then that is working in Nishkama Karma Yoga and that leads to Jnana and for a Bhakta actually we work because we want to offer our consciousness to Krishna so actually we want to offer our fruits to Krishna also, but for Krishna the fruits are not as important as our intention we know standard example of Hanuman moving big boulders and the squirrel moving the small pebbles, small no, dust particles, not even pebbles so what did Lord Rama see, the intention so for us see, detachment from results comes because of attachment to something bigger than results detachment from results comes from attachment to something bigger than results and that bigger is Krishna, so when we are attached to Krishna, we want to please Krishna by our work and the world judges us by the results Krishna judges us by our efforts if we have put in our efforts, Krishna is pleased with us and actually that was the secret of Prabhupada’s cheerfulness, even when his preaching was not at all successful now Prabhupada, he tried so much to preach in India and he went to America and even in America he was like an unknown old man and some people who later became devotees came to meet him or even people who did not become devotees, journalists came to meet him yes, Swami was so happy now if you think from the material perspective, everything that Prabhupada did had been unsuccessful his business had been unsuccessful his making a magazine had been unsuccessful his running an organization had been unsuccessful now everything, if person has got failure after failure after failure they tend to become bitter isn’t it? but Prabhupada was happy why? because Prabhupada certainly he wanted the results he wanted temples, he wanted devotees but he was not working primarily for the results he was working for Krishna so he was working for Krishna and he was thinking, I am doing my effort Krishna is pleased by that now if by Krishna’s arrangement the results come I will offer the results also so what it means is we don’t think of ourselves as the cause of the result that means we work primarily for Krishna, I work to please Krishna so Prabhupada would say, Bhaktsanji Thakur would say you know that, if you go for a program and nobody comes, preach to the walls what does it mean, preach to the walls that does not mean he didn’t care at all how many people came he would be pleased if large number of people would come for the program why? because more people come for the program then more people are benefited by hearing Krishna’s message so it is not that we have to be indifferent or uncaring for the results but we care for something more than the results we care for Krishna and because we want to offer the results to Krishna we also care for the results but our primary care is for Krishna and we know Krishna is pleased by efforts so at the level of bhakti if we are doing our endeavour well nobody comes to know that we did the endeavour, still Krishna knows Krishna’s eyes never blink the devotee does the smallest service, Krishna knows the devotee has done the service Krishna notes it and rewards at the appropriate time that’s why actually when we work for results we set ourselves up for a lot of insecurity because the results are not in our hands but when we work for Krishna Krishna actually judges us by that which is in our hands our efforts are in our hands in that sense bhakti actually brings a lot of security in our life whereas materialistic conception of success brings a lot of insecurity in our life does that answer your question? ok last question