— Free rendering of Bhagavad Gita 2.47, following Juan Mascaro’s 1962 translation
About this quote
हिन्दी में
अपना मन काम में लगाओ, उसके फल में कभी नहीं।
What it means
The line is not asking for indifference. It asks for maximum attachment in one place and none in another: your heart belongs to the work, and specifically not to what the work will fetch you. The two halves get collapsed in common use, and then the teaching is mistaken for not minding how things turn out.
The distinction worth keeping is between the reward and the quality of the act. Caring whether a thing is done well is part of setting your heart on it; what is being cut away is the rehearsal of the promotion, the praise or the marks — mostly because that rehearsal quietly reshapes the work into whatever is most likely to be rewarded.
What it teaches you
Watch what happens to a task the moment you start picturing its payoff: you begin optimising for the visible, the scoreable, the part your reviewer will notice. Catching that substitution while you work — asking whether this particular choice makes the work better or only makes it look better — is what applying the verse consists of.
अर्थ और सीख
यह उदासीनता की सीख नहीं है, बल्कि एक जगह पूरा मन लगाने और दूसरी जगह बिल्कुल न लगाने की सीख है: मन काम में, फल में नहीं। काम अच्छा हो, इसकी चिंता मना नहीं है; मना है इनाम, तारीफ़ या नंबर का सपना देखना, क्योंकि वही सपना धीरे-धीरे काम को बदल देता है और जो दिखे और गिना जाए, वही होने लगता है। सीख यह है कि काम करते हुए पकड़िए कि यह चुनाव काम को बेहतर बना रहा है या सिर्फ़ बेहतर दिखा रहा है।
Where it comes from
A free rendering of the Gita’s most famous verse, 2.47 — the teaching of work without attachment to results. This compact English form follows Juan Mascaró’s much-loved 1962 translation. The literal Swarupananda version is also on this site: ‘Thy right is to work only; but never to the fruits thereof.’
