Nishkama Karma — The Golden Rule of Selfless Duty
Speaker: Lord Sri Krishna → Spoken to: Arjuna
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana | mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi ||
Word-by-Word Analysis (पदच्छेद व अर्थ)
Click or tap on any Sanskrit word to examine its grammatical root, literal translation, and contextual philosophical significance.
Translations (अनुवाद)
“Thy right is to work only, but never with its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive, nor let thy attachment be to inaction.”
Classical Commentary (भाष्य व टीका)
Adi Shankaracharya
Jagadguru Bhagavatpada (8th Century CE) (8th Century CE)
“कर्मणि एव अधिकारः न ज्ञाननिष्ठायाम्... चित्तशुद्ध्यर्थं कर्म कर्तव्यम्”
Action (Karma) belongs to the realm of the aspirant whose mind is still subject to ignorance and desires. Shankara stresses that one must not abandon action out of lethargy, nor calculate personal rewards. By working with absolute detachment, the mental mirror is cleansed (Citta-Shuddhi), making one qualified for supreme non-dual Self-knowledge (Jnana).