Should we expect the fruit of our actions or not?

[An online spiritual discussion was conducted on March 21, 2021, in which several devotees participated. The questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[Kum. Laxmi Thrylokya said: Padanamaskaram Swami! You taught us that we should not expect anything from God when we do any action (karma) for the sake of God. You have also said that, if we do not expect the fruit for our worldly job, we will be exploited by our employer. But Lord Kṛṣṇa has said in the Gītā, “Karmaṇye vādhikāraste...”, which means that one should do every action, without thinking about the result. Please help me correlate this, Swami. At Your feet, Laxmi Thrylokya.]

Swāmi replied: The Gītā is one of the three main authorities in spiritual knowledge (Prasthāna Traya). These three authorities are the Upaniṣads, the Brahma Sūtrams and the Gītā. It is also said that the Gītā is the essence of the Upaniṣads. Hence, the entire subject discussed in the Gītā is only nivṛtti (spiritual life) and not pravṛtti (worldly life). For the sake of pravṛtti, the Dharma Śāstrams or ethical scriptures exist separately. Therefore, wherever the word karma or karma phala comes up in the Gītā, it only refers to the action related to God and not to the world, unless the context is specifically stated to be of pravṛtti.

For example, there is a verse in the Gītā, “Śarīrayātrā’picate, na prasidhyedakarmaṇaḥ”, which means that if you do not do any action (karma), you will not even be able to maintain your body which is meant for divine service. Here, the word karma refers to the work or job done to earn money and maintain one’s body. So, the context is clearly of worldly life (pravṛtti). But even here, the point is that the body is to be maintained because it is required for divine service. So, the maintenance of the body also comes under nivṛtti alone. Moreover, it is simple logic; unless you work and earn money, how can you sacrifice money to God, even if you ignore the aspect of maintaining your own body. Money is the fruit of your work (karma phala) and its sacrifice to God is called karma phala tyāga in the Gītā. If you sacrifice the fruit of your work to your employer, how will you sacrifice to God? This is just basic common sense.

Of course, the verse quoted by you above can also be applied to the worldly work done in pravṛtti. Once you fix your salary, after negotiating with the employer at the time of the interview, you should forget about the salary, which is the fruit of your work. You should fully focus on doing the work, spending all your energy on the work alone. You should not waste even a trace of your energy in thinking about your salary and of ways to increase it. If you concentrate all your energy on the work alone, without thinking about the fruit, your work will be excellent and your salary will increase by itself. This concept is based on the first law of thermodynamics. The law states:

Q = E + W
Energy available = Energy wasted + Energy converted to work

Here Q is your energy available for work. E is the energy wasted by you in thinking about the fruit. W is the work done by you at the job.

From this equation we see that if E becomes 0, Q = W. This means that when you do not waste any energy on thinking about the fruit, all your energy is spent in doing the work. Thus, you will accomplish the maximum amount of work and naturally get the maximum result too.

Hence, even in pravṛtti, you must fix your salary in the beginning, which is said to be the stage of saṅkalpa. Saṅkalpa is the initial aspiration for the fruit which makes you decide to start the work. Once you have started the work, you should not keep thinking about the fruit while you are working. Such thinking leads to worry or tension and unnecessarily consumes some of your energy, which could have been used for the work. In the case of God or nivṛtti, no aspiration for the fruit should be there even in the beginning stage. It means that even the saṅkalpa should be absent. You should never aspire for any fruit from God in return for your participation in God’s work, from the beginning to the end. Thus, forgetting the fruit and concentrating on the work alone, is common to both pravṛtti and nivṛtti. In pravṛtti, at least there is the initial saṅkalpa, whereas, in nivṛtti, even that saṅkalpa is absent.