Since my college days, on many occasions, I came across individuals, the so called motivators or divas and also read several books primarily explaining various methods to set goals and achieving them. Success was at the centre stage. It took me so many years to realise that our actions (karma) and the fruit(s) their from (karma phala) are not directly related. It is fruitless to worry about the fruit of our action. Let me explain.
Right from the day we took birth, we are engaged in performing actions. Most of these actions are the articulated versions of the two basic animal instincts of reproduction and survival. I said ‘articulated’ because human-animals are bestowed with intelligence, unlike the other animals who perform the same but in an un-articulated form. Yes! That is the only difference I find. However, some actions do not originate from the instincts; for example those arising out of compassion towards the fellow human beings or animals, which take us at the higher level of consciousness. There are other actions which our bodies perform but are completely out of our control, like respiration, digestion and so on. However these are not the subject of current discussion. If we keep aside reproduction, it could be said that most actions related our career development originate from the basic instinct of survival. Let us take a systems approach, for the sake of understanding.
The System - I consists of our body and the System – II consists of the rest i.e. the surroundings. All our actions are performed by the System – I. While performing any action we interact with the surroundings, for example we may take help from our friend. In any case, the result or the fruit of our actions comes from System – II i.e. surroundings only. That is where the factor of uncertainty or unpredictability enters. We take a simple example to understand this concept.
Let us consider an individual moving in a car from destination A to destination B. The definitions of the Systems given earlier are applicable here. Some of the possibilities in which the surroundings (System – II) may react to the individual’s actions are as follows:
(a) The individual drives comfortably and eventually reaches the destination.
(b) While driving, the brakes fail and the car hits a tree on the roadside.
(c) While driving the brakes fail and the car hits another individual walking on the road
(d) The individual drives comfortably and carefully but hit by another car driven by an unruly individual
These are only some of the possibilities but little thinking reveals that they are innumerable. However the result at (b) to (d) is same: the individual does not reach the destination. Let us analyse it further.
At (a), the individual achieves the goal and at others he does not. Can the individual be solely held responsible for the achievements or the failures? Certainly not! In all cases, it could be seen that the fruits of the actions (karma phala) carried out in the System – I come from the surroundings or System - II, which are not in individual’s control. Thus the individual reaches the goal or achieves success only when the surroundings permit. The problem is no individual can predict the behaviour of surroundings. So, what is the right approach towards life? No one tells it better than Lord Shri Krishna.
In Bhagavad-Gita, told in the battlefield, the Lord tells Arjuna to take pleasure in the action (karma) but reject the fruit of action (karma phala tyaga). True and everlasting happiness comes when we take pleasure in the action; in other words, when the path becomes more enjoyable than the goal. It is so logical and down-to-earth.
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