Do your duty don't expect the fruits - The Astrology angle!
One of the most famous verse in Bhagavad Gita is from Chapter 2, Verse 47 "You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction".
You are entitled to ask the question "Who on earth is willing to work without expecting the fruits of labor"? What really did Sri Krishna have in His mind when He said this to Arjuna? In this article I am going to give the meaning of this verse from the angle of Astrology and Karma.
The Astrology Angle to this Verse.
For those of you who have not time to read this long article let me try to summarise in the shortest way possible. The fruits are dependant on the planetary positions in your horoscope. I am an Astrologer consulting for over 3 decades. I have heard 1000s of people complaining to me on how bad the world is, most of the time my clients have said the same thing, "I have worked so hard but my office has not given me a promotion, instead they gave the promotion to an unworthy person. Why is God so unfair"?
Interestingly Vedic Astrology says that the prime Karma-Karaka in Astrology happens to be Saturn. Karma-Karaka means the Significator of Karma. Saturn's number is 8. Sri Krishna has so many connections with number 8. For example He is the 8th Major Avatar of Mahavishnu or God. He is the 8th child to his parents. He was born during Ashtami the 8th tithi. He left earth when He was 125 years old and that adds upto 8. No wonder that Sri Krishna spoke so much about KARMA and ACTION . Saturn in the Vedic Astrology Chart is the Lord of the 10th house in the Kalapurusha Chakra. 10th house as you all know is the house of WORK, the purpose of life.
My answer to every client who had asked this question to me is "your past life actions decides whether you will get the fruits or not, sometimes when it is there in your prarabdha Karma even then it comes to you only during certain Dasha and Antar-Dasha (Bhakti) combinations triggered by a particular planet transiting a particular point in your horoscope. If you understand my point of view then you really don't have to read this entire article.
For centuries people have debated on what really is the meaning of this verse. The main issue is that we human beings always do our work with your eyes set on the fruits, the salary, the power, the comforts that a business owner is expected to experience.
If you are a cricketer and you go into the field with lots of hopes because you worked a lot, trained for months and years. What is wrong in saying, "This time I am surely going to make a 100 runs". Sri Krishna on the other hand wants to tell this player, "do your duty as a batsman, if you are bowled out or caught even on the 1st ball, please leave the cricket pitch without any complaints and let the next batsman come in".
if you are looking for a quick answer from me on this situation, I want to ask this complaining batsman only one question, "do you know that the bowler has been practicing for years and has perhaps put in more effort than you. Have you ever considered that"?
The hidden meaning of the Verse No.47
The most important point here is never did Sri Krishna say, "I will not give you the fruits of your labour". He only says that "if the tree of your hard work does not bear fruit then do not complain". He wants to tell you that the fruits are dependant on your Karma, your past lives. He suggests that you learn to accept whatever comes but continue working while also accepting the fact that there are many factors delaying the fruits of labor. The most important point here is don't complain, don't ask where are my fruits and don't be impatient.
If a person does not get the fruits, then what the person does next seems to be a natural outcome. The person quits his job, his activities, stops working, stops serving the world. In this context, I would like to remind that several times Sri Krishna reminds Arjuna that the one purpose of life is to serve the world, take care of the world, save the world, look after the welfare of people, ensure they are happy etc. That's why Sri Krishna says "I don't like a lazy person". Read the verse again and you will notice the words "inaction".
So, when Sri Krishna says "You are not entitled" what He is actually saying is the fruits are not in our hands because it determined by many factors. One factor is God Himself. God the source of this Universe decides on who gets the fruits. So Krishna actually says that the fruits are in His hands, so how can an ordinary human being say "I am entitled to the fruits".
Now we shall try to find out the reasons why we are not entitled to the fruits.
Reason No.1
The first reason and perhaps the most important one is that God is the Eternal Director of the film called "My Life". He determines what's going on in this Universe. The builder did his job well. However an earthquake destroyed what took months to build. The builder complains "where are my fruits, I have worked hard". In this situation God seems to be saying, "this is why I always said you are not entitled to the fruits". Anything can happen. These are not in your hands. If a Tsunami destroys our hard work, who is responsible? The natural catastrophes, war, covid 19 are all beyond comprehension. These are not usually revealed in our Horoscope. We call this group Karma where the individual Karma is swallowed up like a whale swallows up all the small fish. So reason No.1 is a sum total of all those that are simply beyond control and happens without any connected to individual karma. So the horoscope will never reveal these events. If a person survives an earthquake when most people around died then it such an event shows that the individual karma wanted this person to survive.
Sri Krishna said that whenever Adharma rises beyond a bearable level, "I will ensure that Dharma is restored". In this Kurukshetra battlefield, Sri Krishna is about to do that. In this war many people died, though they performed their duties well.
Reason No.2
Whatever is going on in our life is largely predetermined because we have brought forward a Karma baggage from a past life and carrying it with you all the time. This we call Prarabdha Karma. The fruits are largely dependent on past life. Inspite of hard work, we do not get the fruits. Sri Krishna says "don't complain" because the past life deeds are influencing the fruits. So when a person does not see the fruits, he is going to complain "There is No God, there is no justice in this world. Look at the the other person, he does not work hard, inspite of that he is is very rich, has a large beautiful home ... ".
The only way one can know about past life is by consulting a wise and experienced Astrologer. The horoscope will show the level of fortune the person has in his karma bag.
Reason No.3
The fruits of labor is dependant on others and the environment. Let me explain with an example. Recently after I turned 60 I wanted to try my luck with Chess. In my college days I was a strong player but not now. My FIDE rating is very low now. I tried to revive my skills and worked hard during the nights practicing on chess.com. While playing the tournament in one of the rounds I had to face a 7 year old boy. He was a timid boy. I closed my eyes and prayed to God "Please God I should win this game. Losing to a child would be disastrous for me". When I opened by eyes I saw the boy also was doing the same thing. He was praying to his favourite God. Then I realised why prayers do not help in such a situation. Everyone wants to win the game. The one who has worked harder is expected to win. Perhaps God does not interfere in such matters and that's why many times we notice that God is just an observer and not an active participant in our game.
Summary
Sri Krishna the all knowing One, points out a fundamental law of reality. He seems to say that effort is always supreme. Inaction and pessimism is the worst habit you can have. He seems to be saying you have excuse when it comes to putting in your effort. He says work as hard as possible. Do good to the world for that is the purpose of your life. Be on the side of Dharma (the right way). With regard to your effort you are 100% responsible. Do not give any excuse for shortage of effort. The result is simply not in your hands.
The outcome of any action depends on a complex network of external factors that is general and karmic factors that are specific only to you. External factors include your immediate environment, the world and what is going through right now, the nature of people around you. The internal factors are specific to you and that can only be seen from your horoscope, your nature and your individual efforts.
Be content, for what you have to get in this life is somewhat predetermined but continue with your efforts and pursuit of knowledge. Get to know as much as possible about your horoscope and try to live life in accordance to your Karma. Complaining over what you cannot control is a waste of time and is only going to make things worse. It will prevent you from putting in more efforts. Always believe that effort is supreme at all times.
By
Guruji E K Dhilip Kumar
Email : ekdhilipkumar@gmail.com
read the above article to know something more about Karma and Effort
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