Regard only the work and not the reward for it.
Let your motive for actions be not the profits from them!
Yet, do not indulge in indolence!

Bhagavad Geeta 2:47

Hello friends!

In this article, I am going to share some lessons that I learned from the Bhagwad Geeta.

This article is dedicated to one of my readers  “Megha shah”…

I received an email from her, in which she asked me a question –

She said “ I believe in the power of subconscious mind or law of attraction. I have manifested many things. But at the same time, I get confused as Geeta says to work without thinking of fruits but while using the law of attraction we have to first see the end result or imagine if that is already ours…
Can you explain it? what these both  mean?”

So, I gave her an answer in brief through email and also promised her to write an article to explain it in detail.

So, here it is…

But before beginning to explain that, I want to make it clear that I am not going to try to interpret the scripture to answer it, all I am going to do is try to explain my understanding of some verse of the Bhagavad Geeta.

My connection to Bhagavad Geeta

I was born in a Muslim family in India.

 When I was a little kid, there was only one channel on our TV, on which there were many religious programs based on Hindu Scriptures that used to come on that channel throughout the week. I used to watch most of them but there was one that I used to watch regularly and it was “SHRI KRISHNA”, through it the life of Shri Krishna was described.

So, in this way, I became familiar with the life of Lord Krishna.

Now, when I was in college in Dehradun, I had a friend from Rishikesh, and we use to go to his home very often.

That friend wasn’t much religious, but his father used to study Bhagavad Geeta every day, so sometimes I used to sit and listen to him, and then he would explain to me the lessons in it.

So, I learned some of it in this way.

But, honestly, I couldn’t grasp the wisdom in it at that time.

Well, I used to live my life without a care in the world, and my awareness was very limited.

But then after going through many tragedies in my life, I had my spiritual awakening.

And, when I begin to see everything in the world with a new perception, I and my life begin to change dramatically.

Then, I started to search for the answers about the truth of Life, I read so many books, and I also decided to read the three most popular scriptures.  

At that time I study the translation of the Bhagavad Geeta for myself, to search for the answers about the true nature of reality.

After studying those Scriptures I realized that the Scriptures are like the Ocean,  It doesn’t matter how much we understand of them, there is still way much more to understand.

Just like it doesn’t matter how much water you take from the ocean, it’s nothing compared to the water that’s still is in the ocean.

Anyway, let’s move to the verse which I was asked about, but before that You need to understand the context in which it was said.

The Context

If you are not familiar with the story of Mahabharata, it is a story about a great and very advanced civilization of ancient India.

In this story, there were two royal brothers the elder one was Dhritarashtra who was blind, and the younger one was Pandu.

Pandu had Five sons called “The Pandv” and Dhritrasta had a Hundred sons know as “The Kaurava”. There was an unhealthy relationship between the children of two brothers.

As the story moves along after many heated incidents the kingdom was divided between the two.

Many years passed by living in this way, then one day, the eldest of the Kauravas  “Duryodhan” with the help of his uncle tricked the Pandavas in gambling and took everything from them, and they had to go into exile for 13 years.

The deal was that after the exile they would get their kingdom back, but when they return Duryodhan refused all negotiation, which ultimately caused the Great Battel of Kurukshetra.

Now, both armies were on the battlefield ready to fight, when Arjun the great warrior of the Pandav saw the armies and saw his relatives, elders, his teachers, etc. in the army of the opposition, who were bound by their duty to serve their king; his heart filled with the emotion of compassion, he realized that he did not want to fight these people.

A battle begins between his heart and mind, he did not want to fight yet he knew that it’s his duty to fight, he did not want to kill these people yet he could see that it would be the outcome of the battle.

So, Arjun said to Lord Krishna –

 “My heart is oppressed with pity; and my mind confused as to what my duty is. Therefore, my Lord, tell me what is best for my spiritual welfare, for I am Thy disciple. Please direct me, I pray.”

Now, before we move further understand that when we are about to do something that’s we have never done before, we would always have conflict inside us.

Now, if we see it through the teachings of Dr. Joe Dispenza, Arjun was saying that after analyzing the situation by using the analytical mind, his heart became incoherent and his brain became incoherent, and in that kind of state, he could not take a wise decision.

Now, let’s move forward-

After seeing Arjun’s condition Lord Krishna start teaching him the philosophy of life, The eternal essence of spirit, philosophy of knowledge and action, etc.  through which he made him see the reality from a higher perception, after which Arjun was able to bring harmony between his heart and mind, and he was able to fulfill his duty.

Now, I cannot explain the entire philosophy here, because it’s very deep, and need a lot more time, but you can get a copy of Bhagavad Geeta and read it, it’s in the second chapter. But remember you need to read it a few times to understand what’s being said.

Now, let’s move to the verse that I was asked about.

Regard only the work, not the reward

In verse 47 of Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Geeta, Lord Krishna said to Arjun-

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ||

Which can be translated as-

“Thou hast only the right to work, but none to the fruit thereof. Let not then the fruit of thy action be thy motive; nor yet be thou enamored of inaction.”

 OR

“Regard only the work and not the reward for it. Let your motive for actions be not the profits from them! Yet, do not indulge in indolence!”

Now, if we see it in simple understanding, we would see that the Arjun was overwhelmed by the thoughts of the outcome of the war, if he engaged in this war, which was something that he never thought he would have to be the cause of, i.e. the death of all those great warriors and his teachers that he loved so much all his life.

So, in that condition Lord Krishna told him that he should not be concerned about the outcome of the war because that’s not his job, he should only be focused on his duty, responsibility, and work.

And, that the outcome of the war should neither be his motive of action nor the cause of his inaction.

Does it mean The Law of Attraction is not real?

Now, come to the original question, does it mean that the Law of attraction is not real because it says – we should begin to work with the outcome in mind and then we would attract it?

First of all, that’s not the definition or the working model of the Law of Attraction. It’s just an incomplete fraction of it.

So, let’s get a little deeper into the law of attraction…

There are three components (thoughts, feelings, and actions) of a person’s consciousness that must be in harmony for the law of attraction to work according to his will.

Now, the outcome that you want is the thought image in your mind, the emotion you would feel when it happens is the feeling in your body, the work you have to do or the service you have to provide is the action that must be taken.

When your harmonious thoughts, feelings, and actions are directed towards a particular objective you will begin to attract it in your life.

Now, let’s see what’s happening in Arjun’s story…

During the time when both armies were preparing for the battle, the thoughts of Arjun was on winning the battle, that means the outcome in his mind was the victory in battle.

The feeling he had was confidence, courage, and enthusiasm about winning the war.

The action he was taking was preparing for the battle in order to win the war.

So, you can see that his thoughts, feelings, and actions were in alignment with the purpose that he had to achieve, but when he saw two armies ready to fight and kill each other…

His thoughts went on the other side of the outcome, where he would become the cause of the death of all the great souls that he loved so much.

Because of these new thoughts, he begins to feel compassion for the opposition army.

Now, these new thoughts, and feelings were causing him not to act upon the idea that he had been preparing for.

And, in that case, he would not be able to bring the change that he was destined for.

So, Lord Krishna told him that, he should not be involved in these doubtful thoughts.

 In this verse, Lord Krishna told him how to remove these doubtful thoughts or the mental blocks.

The other significance of this verse is that when it’s time to step out and make the move, our mind should not be focused on the past or the future but it should be focused in the present moment because the present moment is all we have got.

So, if we are not in the present moment while doing any work, we can never give it our best.

Just imagine, if Arjun would have been thinking about the undesirable outcome while he was fighting, would he be able to fight the way he did?

 Of course not.

And, the Story of Mahabharat would have had a different ending.

So, in his wisdom, Lord Krishna told him to work without thinking of the outcome because he wanted his focus to be in the present moment on the battle, not the outcome of it.

But, he didn’t mean that the Law of attraction is not real.

In fact, if you read the Bhagwad Geeta with a little more focus you would find many places where the law of attraction is talked about in many ways.

How the Law of Attraction really works?

I hope that the confusion has been cleared by now.

So, let’s come back to the modern world, and talk about the science behind the Law of Attraction.

Now, there is only  ONE true Law, which is called “THE LAW” and it says- “ENERGY IS”, or in the language of theology,  it says “GOD IS”.

Out of this one law comes 7 universal laws according to which reality sets in.

(Read 7 Universal laws to get a better understanding)

Out of these 7 basic laws, comes all the other laws which dictate how matter moves and reacts in Space-Time.

Now, One of the basic law is the Law of Vibration which dictate that “everything in the universe is in a constant state of Vibration”.

 We literally live in an ocean of motion.

In order to better understand it, let’s put it in the proper perspective-

The law says “Energy is”, out of which comes the law of vibration which says “Energy is constantly vibrating”.

Now out of the law of vibration comes the Law of attraction which says “The two energy particles or fields that are vibrating at the same speed or frequency attracts each other”

Now, according to the quantum model of reality, there is an invisible field of energy and information that exist in all space and time. The matter that we can see is the movement or excitation in this field.

 Every Excitation or matter that we see has a specific rate of vibration according to which all material forms are being expressed as we see them.

The plants, the earth, the body, the buildings, the animals, the moon, the stars all have their particular rates of vibration which gives them their shapes and movements.

Now, this field has always been there, it’s been referred by many different names in different-different times of history, such as Spirit, Life force, Infinite mind, the creative power, etc.

But it doesn’t matter what we call it, what matters is that it’s real.

 The latest discoveries in science are telling us that it responds to the mind, and it has infinite potential realities waiting to be observed by a conscious observer.

Now, when you create a vision in your mind, you are connected to that potential reality.

When you begin to feel the emotion that is associated with your vision as if it’s already there; you begin to change the vibrational field of your body.

 When the vibration of your body matches the vibration of that potential reality (your vision), you begin attracting that potential reality in your physical reality.

And, when you begin making new choices and taking action without trying to force the outcome, you speed up the process of attraction.

So, in my understanding, and in the language of the law of attraction, this verse can be explained as-

When we have a clear vision, in our mind, of the future that we want to experience, and we have the feeling of that future in our body as if it’s already real, then our job is to work towards it without thinking how it’s going to happen or when it’s going to happen.

Because our job is to be clear on what and working towards it, the how and when is controlled by the Great universal mind which is 100% evenly present in all places at the same time.

If you want to understand the law of attraction in greater details read the article “Law of Attraction”

Thank you very much for your time!

-Parvez Alam