Lord Krishna advises Arjuna, 'Karmanyevadhikarasthe maa paleshu kadachana, Ma karma phalaheturbhuh matey sangah astu akarmani.' This verse in Sanskrit is commonly translated as, 'You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.' English dictionary describes Karma as 'the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence' and in other words, 'Karma means action, work, or deed. The term also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect, often descriptively called the principle of karma, wherein intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect): good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and bad rebirths'. Generally, it is interpreted and believed that the effect of the Karma determines a person’s next existence or rebirths.
As a layman I feel that Karma being action, work or deed has to produce a result after the action is executed. The result may be immediate, may be after a lapse of time or even in the long run depending upon the nature of action undertaken. It is also believed that in this Kali Yuga, the result is instant. Hence, it is imperative that the result is most likely to come in this life itself. The nature of next existence or rebirth is not known or only imaginable. In my opinion every person undertakes Karma for some purpose depending on his or her needs and aspirations and while undertaking the Karma, he or she expects a favourable result also. The motivating factor to initiate Karma is the aspiring desires that the Karma undertaker expects out of his Karma forgetting the fact that 'desire is the cause of misery' as preached by The Lord. That being the case, why Lord Krishna preaches 'do your duty, do not expect the results and not to refrain from doing your duty'?
In my opinion, the said sermon of the Lord has a very great significance. The Bhagavad Gita teaches, 'The meaning of Karma is the intention. The intention behind action is all that matters. Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.' Having undertaken an action, we are constantly anxious about the result of the action and become restless which creates stress in us. When we undertake any action, we do it for a purpose and with great expectation that we will reap the fruit of our action because we believe in ourself by placing our faith in God and even bestow our offerings to him. But if the action does not give us the desired result, our expectation is belied and we start doubting our belief in ourself leading to question our faith in God. Besides, all negative thinking will be dwelling in our mind leading to inactivity which will hurt us more. Bhagavad Gits states, 'Man is made by his belief. As he beliefs, so he is'.
Since every action that we undertake is on account of the circumstantial need of the moment over which we do not have any control, Lord Krishnan’s exhortation 'Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities and never be attached to not doing your duty.' is very much hold good to assuage our negative thinking. When Lord says, 'never be attached to not doing your duty.', he means that we should not be bogged down by the adverse result but to work towards for achieving our desired goal relentlessly. Lord Krishna answers our apprehensions and doubts when he says, 'No one who does good work will ever come to a sad end either here or in the world to come.' which is akin to the Biblical saying 'what you sow, so shall you reap'. Therefore, the sermon of the Lord Krishna is very much relevant to us for not being affected by the result which may otherwise affect our well-being. This is very much true in the case of younger generation particularly the student community where it is found that the majority of the students cannot cope up with the stress factor coming out of their negative thoughts. Hence, every person should strive to achieve their desired goals through good and effective deeds and sincere efforts without any adverse thinking but without expecting the result since sincere hard and diligent work will produce the desired result.
It is my firm belief which comes out of my experience that at this hour of grave crisis which the global community is facing particularly Indians threatening the very existence of the humanity on account the devastating effect of the diabolic pandemic, the teachings of Lord Krishna through Bhagavad Gita if followed with sincerity of purpose and well-meaning intent and working unitedly and in unison, we can not only maintain ourselves but also come out of our problems and the national predicaments sooner than later through our positive thinking devoid of panic and apprehensions.
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