Ma Phaleshu Kadachana?

“Karmanye va adhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana

ma karmaphalahetur bhur ma te sango stva akarmani”

 Meaning:

Thy business is with action only, never with its fruits so let not fruit of action be thy motive nor be thou to inaction attached.

This is a very difficult, concise enunciation in the BhagavadGita - that we have duties but we cannot expect any fruits from the duties that we perform.

Is this really possible? Doing things without expecting some specific consequence? Accepting whatever consequence one gets is one thing, but not even desiring a particular result is altogether a different thing.

I, if not everybody, need some kind of motivation to do something, to put in effort. Who would even go for a movie, without expecting to have a good time? Even when I donate, I expect it’ll help someone in need. Without such type of basic motivation, it is very unlikely that I’ll raise my hand even to scratch my head.

It’s true that we cannot get the desired result 100% of the time, but should we stop desiring for something just because we’re not sure that we can get it? This concept is completely different from the one that causes innovations. 

Without expectations or motivations, only discoveries can take place, not inventions. Necessity is the mother of invention. Necessity comes from desire. No expectation for results, no desire, no necessity, no invention. Even profitless research work is a result of enthusiasm to learn. Without this motivation, man would have made only discoveries and that too accidentally. Wheel would have been discovered, but the cart would never have been invented.

Can a student study without the desire of grades? Even a sanyasi would not follow his path without dreaming of a better life after rebirth.

It also takes away the sense of responsibility from one’s actions. How will a person do a job sincerely and responsibly, without expecting the desired result?

After so much of ‘manthan’ what I understand is, that "it may not be our right to expect that the result of our actions should be as desired, but it is our need to desire some particular result of our actions, to bring out the best in us."

Edit: Nice *autopsy* of the shloka by Shri Gupta here.

Good that he has written some techniques about how and when to follow the "do not think about result" part.
He has presented a very interesting analogy with novel reading. I think one has to plan while keeping the result in mind and then in the execution phase just *trust* his planning and work accordingly. This would also save the need of reviewing the plan repeatedly and prematurely.

What is beauty?

Does it lie in the flabbiness or the skinniness of body? Or does it lie in the shape of lips, nose and eyes? Or is it something more than that? Why do we find some people beautiful even when they are not considered beautiful by the general majority? And why don’t we find beauty in every person who has that perfect face? Why do different people find beauty in different people? These were the questions sparking in my neurons during a regular Digital Electronics lecture in an Lecture Theatre-1 on an even more regular sleepy afternoon.

A person does not become beautiful by his facial features, shape of body, or the colour of hair. It is the shine in his eyes and the smile on his lips that gives us the perception of beauty. It is the expression on one’s face that makes him beautiful. Perception may differ from person to person, and this is my perception.

The expression on one’s face is defined by what he thinks, and what is running in his mind. So even when we see a so called beautiful person, who does not want to interact with us, surely his expressions will reflect that and we’ll perceive his intentions. As soon as we add this attribute to his features, the false perception of beauty will vanish.

Now suppose a person is not so called beautiful, as defined by his physical features. But his nature is nice and as I mentioned before, there is that shine n the eyes and smile on his face, it creates an overall perception of beauty, which lasts longer than the false impression of external beauty.

Another thing comes to my mind. Beauty of a person is not only associated with what he thinks about me, but also and more closely associated with what I think about him. If I like the nature of a person, I am bound to find him beautiful, mind it, maybe not facially beautiful, but Beautiful.

Thus beauty is not seen only by our eyes, but it is an overall perception of the person’s thought about me and my thoughts about him. Beauty lies not only in the person being looked at, but also depends upon the thought process of the beholder. An old saying goes, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”. I am sure it can be modified as, “Beauty lies not only in the mind of the beholder but also in the mind of the beautiful person.”