Bhagavad Gita 2.47 Meaning in English: Do Your Duty, Let Go of the Fruit

Few lines in Indian scripture are quoted as often as this one. It appears in Chapter 2 (Sankhya Yoga) of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, as verse 47, and it is the verse behind the famous idea: do your duty, and do not cling to the fruit.

Here is the verse, with a simple English meaning, and what it means for everyday life.

The verse (Bhagavad Gita 2.47)

Word-by-word meaning

• karmaṇi eva: in action alone
• te adhikāraḥ: you have the right
• mā phaleṣu kadācana: never in the fruits (results)
• mā karma-phala-hetuḥ bhūḥ: do not make the fruit of action your reason for acting
• mā te saṅgaḥ astu akarmaṇi: and let there be no attachment to inaction (doing nothing)

Where does this verse come from?

Arjuna stands in the middle of the battlefield at Kurukshetra, confused and unwilling to act. In Chapter 2, Shri Krishna begins to answer him. After explaining that the Self is not born and does not die, he turns to the practical question: how should one act? Verse 47 is the answer in one line.

What the verse really says

The verse makes four points in a single breath.

1. Act. You have a right, and a duty, to do the work in front of you.
2. Do not claim the result. The result depends on many things beyond you: other people, timing, luck, circumstances. Your part is the effort.
3. Do not make the reward your reason. If you work only for the reward, you will be anxious, jealous and easily broken by failure.
4. Do not run away into inaction. "I should not care about results" is never an excuse to stop working.

Three common misunderstandings

"So I should not care about results." Not quite. The Gita does not tell you to be careless about the outcome. It tells you not to be attached to it. You can plan carefully, work hard and still accept that the result is not fully in your hands.

"So I should not work for money or success." The verse does not forbid goals. It teaches how to hold them: work with full attention now, and take success or failure as a student takes a result, calmly and ready to learn.

"So doing nothing is safe." The last line rules this out directly. Inaction is not freedom.

How to apply it in daily life

• Students: study fully, and keep your mind on the page instead of the rank. Attention to the work usually helps the result more than worry does.
• At work: do the task well, and do not let a delayed promotion or a missing thank-you decide your peace of mind.
• In business: make the best product and the best effort. Sales will go up and down; the quality of your effort is what you control.
• In family life: serve without keeping an account of who did how much.

A simple practice: before starting a task, say to yourself, "My part is to do this well. The result will come as it comes." Then begin.

Read the whole Gita in simple English

This verse is only one of the 700 shlokas of the Gita. To see how it connects with the rest, from Arjuna's doubt in Chapter 1 to the final teaching of Chapter 18, you need the whole text.

The Satvik Setu English edition of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita gives all 18 chapters and all 700 shlokas, each in the original Sanskrit with a simple English meaning below it, plus an introduction to the Gita and the fundamentals of Sanatan Dharma. You can read a full chapter free before you decide: open the free sample, Chapter 12 (Bhakti Yoga).

In short

Bhagavad Gita 2.47 asks for full effort without clinging to the result, and without escaping into inaction. It is a short verse, but it can change how you study, work and live.