Chapter 2, Verse 47

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥

Translation

You have a right to your actions, but never to the fruits of those actions. Don't let the fruit be your motive, and don't let attachment turn into inaction either.

Explanation

This is often misread as advice to stop caring about outcomes. It says something more precise: put full effort into the doing, because the result was never entirely within your control to begin with. Held loosely, that steadies a person through both success and setback — neither one was ever quite the whole point.

Reflect

Where are you gripping an outcome so tightly that the work itself has stopped feeling like enough?

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