How can we work enthusiastically if we are to be detached from the fruits?

From: sharmistha

For most of the newcomers for kc when we start dovetailing our activities esp for student it really becomes difficult sometimes to work hard for academic performances and yet not get attached to the results…..because of our conditioning most of us have the tendency to work really hard for the object of our sense gratification but when we like to see the same object not a object not as that which satisfy our  senses then the vigour of work to get that comes down and hence is performance…how to overcome this?

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Sharmishta, for most of the newcomers to Krishna Consciousness, when we start documenting our activities, especially for students, it becomes really difficult sometimes to work hard for academic performances and yet not get attached to the results. Because of our conditioning, most of us have a tendency to work really hard for the object of our sense gratification. But when we like to see the same object, not as an object which satisfies our senses, then the vigour of work to get that comes down, and hence the performance also.
How to overcome this? Answer? When we work for Krishna, we have a motive higher than personal satisfaction. It is the satisfaction of Krishna. And even in our day-to-day life, if we studied and got good marks, ultimately it is not that we get gratification from that good marks.
In isolation, after we get the results, we would like to go and tell our friends, we would like to tell our parents, and it is when we see their joy, hear their words of appreciation, that actually we feel happy. So, even when we say that we do something for our sense gratification, it is not in isolation. It is in relation with others.
But the relation is again self-centred in the sense that we think of how others will praise me and glorify me and understand who I truly am when I achieve something. So, it is not that when we talk about Krishna consciousness, we have to suddenly go into isolation and work for something without even thinking about the result. The idea of is not that we don’t care for the result, but we don’t let our mental energy get diverted from the work to the result.
Obviously, when Arjuna fought the battle, he fought it because he wanted to win it. And he felt that his cause was righteous. And when the cause was righteous, he felt that it is important for him to restore the kingdom to Yudhishtira, who was the righteous, virtuous king.
So, if Arjuna wanted a particular result, then how can we say that he is not attached to the result? Anybody who does any activity in the world, does it with a certain result in mind. And if a person is not attached to that result, how would that person do that activity at all? So, we should not think of non-attachment to activity in an absurd, world-denying, life-denying, energy-denying sense as somehow separating the activity from its result and trying to focus only on the activity and neglecting the result. We do want the result, that is natural.
But the question is, why do we want the result? We want the result to please Krishna, to glorify Krishna, to show the world how Krishna Consciousness helps us not just spiritually, but also even materially. Not necessarily in terms of Krishna Consciousness itself giving us better marks, but Krishna Consciousness helps us to become better human beings, better individuals, better masters of our mind and senses, by which we can become more effective and efficient in our work in this world. So, as devotees, when we are working in the world, certainly it is natural to think of the result of the work.
But the idea is that we shouldn’t think that the result of the work is produced only by my efforts. So, the whole purpose of Karmannivadika Rastemakaleshu Kadachana in 2.47 is to recognize not that we should not be attached to the result, that is not the central focus. The central focus is to recognize that we are not the only producers of the result.
In the 18th chapter Lord Krishna talks about five factors of action, in which he does talk about our own endeavors as one. So, when we recognize that in our actions, there is also a higher element that is involved. Even when, say, people play cricket, then the batsman may bat very well, but still there are so many factors involved, because of which, in spite of a sterling performance by one person, the team may or may not win.
So, basically, at an initial rudimentary or beginning level, Karmannivadika Rastemakaleshu Kadachana means to recognize that there are factors apart from our own endeavor that also play a role, often a more important role than even our own endeavor, in the determining of the result. So, once we acknowledge this, then we can move forward in life, recognizing that there is not much for us to lose, as long as we are putting in the endeavor. So, if we put in the endeavor, we are growing in terms of our own discipline and ability to regulate our mind and senses, and we are also learning about the subject more, that is all about internal growth.
And because we are doing it for Krishna, there is devotional growth. And when Krishna wants, and what Krishna wants is not something based on some arbitrary factors, it is based on what is ordained as per our karma, which Krishna adjusts according to what is best for our spiritual advancement. Accordingly, Krishna gives us that.
So, therefore, the key point to understand is that we do our studies as a personal devotional offering to Krishna, and if we sit down, and if we understand that Krishna is going to be pleased by our endeavor, actually, our inspiration will increase more and more, because we know here there is a person who will judge us by that which is in our control, and not by that which is not in our control. The world will judge us by the results, and the results are not in our control. But Krishna judges us by our endeavors.
And if we are doing our work faithfully, diligently, with the desire to please Krishna through it, directly or indirectly, directly we see that Krishna, by your arrangement, I am in this particular situation, and this is my duty, let me do it. But indirectly, by ensuring that we have a devotional consciousness through regular sadhana and association and swadhyaya, study of scriptures, we have devotional consciousness overall, and then we do our studies, Krishna will actually evaluate us by our endeavors, not by the results of our endeavors. So, when Srila Prabhupada was preaching all over the world, for forty years he did not get practically any success, but he was successful in Krishna’s eyes, because he was doing all that he could to please Krishna and share his message.
And in the last eleven years of his life, Krishna gave him so much facility and so much success. It was not at that time he became successful, at that time the world recognized his success. So actually speaking, when we start working for Krishna’s pleasure, it frees a lot of mental energy that gets dissipated because of the insecurity when we work to get success in the world’s eyes, because that success in the world’s eyes is always uncertain.
I may study some subject, and I may think that even if I study this, what if something else comes up in the exam, and something which comes up which I forget at that time, and somehow I don’t get good marks, then all my endeavors will go in vain, because nobody will recognize it. That’s how it happens in material life. But in devotional life, even if things go unpredictably wrong at the critical moment, at the time of exams, of course we try our best to ensure that things go right, but even if things somehow go wrong, we know that our devotional advancement depends on our endeavors, not on our results.
And actually speaking, isn’t this a wonderful contemplation that Krishna judges us by that which is in our hands, and not by that which is not in our hands. So Krishna judges by our endeavors, and here every single endeavor that we put in is an opportunity to go closer to Krishna. And that’s why it’s actually one of the most inspiring meditations to increase our motivation for endeavoring without letting our mental energy get worried by whether I get the result or not, whether people recognize how wonderful I have worked for getting the result, whether people acknowledge me or not.
Every single endeavor that we are going to do, it is going to be noted, appreciated, and rewarded by Krishna in due course of time. And that’s why a devotee can become more inspired than a non-devotee, even when there seems to be herculean obstacles, and even when there seems to be very little chance for success, even when odds seem to be stacked heavily against the devotee, as Vaishnava Prabhupada himself. So, to summarize, at first level, to not be attached to the result doesn’t mean that we don’t think about the result.
We surely want the result, but we don’t want it for our egoistic gratification. We want it for Krishna’s pleasure. And to not be attached to the result means to recognize that we are not the only factors, only agents which are going to determine the result.
There is the higher agency, that is, for those who are not practicing devotional service, it is their own karma coming through the medium of destiny. And for those who are devotees, it is their own karma coming through the medium of destiny, but not destiny independently, but destiny as it is adjusted by Krishna personally, for what is best for our overall growth. And once we understand that whatever is the result that is going to come, it is going to be the best for me, and even if I don’t get a good result, a result that is good from the material, worldly point of view, still, by my endeavor, Krishna will be pleased.
And therefore, the success of my spiritual life is entirely in my hands. I will be judged not by things which are beyond my control, but by things which are in my control. And this is actually a liberating, energizing, inspiring meditation to enable us to pour our entire energy into whatever endeavors we are doing.