Sunday, July 24, 2016

Chapter 2 Verse 47

Detachment, it seems, is also the quintessential significance of the well known chapter 2 verse 47 of the Bhagavad Gita

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि

Karmanye vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana,
Ma Karmaphalaheturbhurma Te Sangostvakarmani

Your prerogative is your action....let neither the consequence nor inaction be the driving force.

Considering the context, which is the battlefield when Krishna is responding to Arjuna's questions in going to war against his own people....it's commonly interpreted into a rather narrowed down definition of 'duty'.

But looked at from a wider lens, Karma, (Karmanye vadhikaraste) which the whole verse is centered on, is about 'action'; think Karmayogi ( not fate or destiny). Karma which is derived from the sanskrit word 'kri' which is 'to do'. And Yoga which is derived from 'yuj' which is to  'join' 'union' and by figurative extension 'skill' 'expertise'. So, it can read as 'doing with expertise, with completeness'.

A complete 'doing in the flow'.......doing and being... unconditionally and in the now. 

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