Bhagavad Gita 2.47 is the single most quoted verse of the Gita and the foundational statement of karma yoga: karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana, “you have a right to action, never to the fruits of action.” The verse occurs in the second chapter (Sankhya Yoga), in the section where Krishna shifts from metaphysics (the eternity of the soul) to practical instruction (how Arjuna should fight). It is the textual source for the doctrine of nishkama karma, action without attachment to results. This article translates the verse word by word and explains its context and reach.
The full Sanskrit text and translation
The verse reads:
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana |
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ‘stv akarmaṇi ||
A literal line-by-line translation: “Only in action (karmaṇy eva) is your authority (adhikāras te), never in the fruits (mā phaleṣu kadācana). Do not be the cause of the fruits of action (mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr); do not let your attachment be to inaction (mā te saṅgo ‘stv akarmaṇi).”
Four operative claims
- Right to action: the practitioner is responsible for performing the action that is theirs to perform. The first half of the verse asserts the duty unambiguously.
- No right to fruits: the practitioner has no claim on the specific result. Outcomes depend on factors beyond the actor’s control.
- Do not act for the sake of fruits: the motivation for action should not be the fruit. Acting because one wants a specific result subordinates the action to the result.
- Do not be attached to inaction: refusing to act in order to avoid bad results is also wrong. Inaction is not the escape route.
The four claims together form a complete ethical position. The right action is performed for its own sake, as duty, without entitlement to a specific outcome and without the escape of doing nothing. This is karma yoga in its most condensed form.
The verses that follow: 2.48 and 2.49
Verses 2.48 and 2.49 develop the doctrine. 2.48 says: yoga-sthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanañjaya | siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṃ yoga ucyate, “Established in yoga, perform actions, abandoning attachment, equal in success and failure; this evenness is called yoga.” 2.49 adds: dūreṇa hy avaraṃ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya, “Action with desire is far inferior to action with discriminating intelligence.” The three verses (2.47, 2.48, 2.49) form a single unit; the full doctrine cannot be read from 2.47 alone.
What “fruits” means here
The Sanskrit phala means literally “fruit” and is the standard metaphor for the result or consequence of an action. The “right” being denied is not the right to receive the fruit (the actor still gets the consequences of their action, that is unavoidable) but the right to claim the fruit, to act in the expectation of a specific outcome. The distinction is subtle but central. Krishna is not saying the actor should not benefit; he is saying the actor should not depend on the benefit. Compare modern professional ethics where a surgeon must operate with full skill but cannot promise a specific outcome.
Why this verse mattered to Arjuna
Arjuna’s collapse in chapter 1 was caused precisely by his calculation of the fruits. If he fought, his kin would die; if his kin died, society would be destroyed; if society was destroyed, dharma would be lost. The chain of fruit-thinking paralysed him. Krishna’s response in 2.47 is to cut the chain at the root: do not act on the calculation of fruits. The shift is what makes the rest of the Gita possible. Once Arjuna is offered a framework in which action does not depend on fruit-calculation, the question becomes which action is dharmically appropriate, and the rest of the text addresses this.
How karma yoga differs from other yogas
- Karma yoga: liberation through action performed without attachment to fruit. The path of the householder and the worker.
- Jnana yoga: liberation through knowledge, particularly the discriminative knowledge of self and not-self. The path of the contemplative.
- Bhakti yoga: liberation through devotion and surrender to a personal deity. The path of the heart.
- Raja yoga (in some classifications): liberation through mental discipline as systematised in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. The path of the meditator.
Karma yoga is the path the Gita most consistently endorses for the kshatriya class to which Arjuna belongs. The Gita does not deny the other paths; it argues that all four converge toward the same liberation, and that karma yoga is the path most appropriate to a person in the middle of action.
For what it’s worth, the most common misreading of 2.47 is that it counsels indifference to outcomes. The verse is the opposite of that. The actor is asked to perform the action with full skill and commitment, but to release the claim on a specific outcome. Indifference would be 2.47 minus the “act” injunction; that is not what the text says. Full investment in action without entitlement to result is harder than either indifference or grasping; this is what makes the doctrine demanding.
Common questions
Can a student apply 2.47 to studying for exams?
Yes, and this is the modal modern application. Study with full effort; do not let the expected grade become the only reason for studying; do not avoid studying because the grade might be bad. The verse is structurally a general framework for action under uncertainty, and exam-preparation is one such case. Sports coaches in India often quote it for athletes: train hard, do not be paralysed by the prospect of losing, do not avoid competing.
Does 2.47 mean the actor can do whatever they want?
No. The verse assumes svadharma, the duty appropriate to one’s position. Krishna in the rest of chapter 2 and chapter 3 is clear that the action to be performed is the dharmically required one, not an arbitrarily chosen one. The freedom is from attachment to the fruit, not from the prior question of which action is right. The Gita is internally consistent: 2.47 builds on 2.31 (a kshatriya should fight a dharma-yuddha) rather than replacing it.
Where does 2.47 sit in the Gita’s overall argument?
The Gita’s chapter 2 is a compact statement of the entire teaching. Verses 2.11-2.30 cover the immortality of the soul. Verses 2.31-2.38 cover the kshatriya’s duty to fight. Verses 2.39-2.53 introduce karma yoga, with 2.47 as the central operational verse. Verses 2.54-2.72 describe the sthitaprajna, the person of settled wisdom, who lives according to 2.47 and is no longer disturbed by either pleasure or pain. The chapter is sometimes treated as the Gita-in-miniature.
One limitation worth noting
The translation “you have a right to action, never to the fruits” is conventional but somewhat misleading in modern English, where “right” suggests a legal claim. The Sanskrit adhikāra means “eligibility” or “authority to perform”; it is closer to “your domain” than to “your right.” The doctrine is not that the actor has a legal claim on action but no legal claim on fruit; it is that the actor’s proper sphere is action, and the fruit-sphere belongs to other determinants (other actors, chance, divine will). Modern legal-rights translations distort this. Read adhikāra as “the sphere of your responsibility.”
For an overview see the Karma Yoga entry at Wikipedia. The Bhagavad Gita in Swami Sivananda’s translation is at archive.org.
