Understanding the Gita's teaching on work is one thing. Living it on a Monday morning is another. There are twelve items on the list, the phone is ringing, and the mind is already running ahead to what other people will say. At that moment "do not cling to the fruit" is a fine sentence and not much more.
The answer is plain. Give every task four moments: an intention before it, full attention during it, a handing over of the result after it, and a short review of the day in the evening. Each moment has one line to say and one question to ask, and each question comes from a verse.
Here the verses are used as questions to put to yourself. For what they mean, see Action Without Claiming the Fruit and Offering All Actions.
Before the task: decide what is in your hands
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥ २.४७ ॥
mā karmaphalahetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi || 2.47 ||
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are never entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to inaction.
The Lord says that the right is to the work alone and never to its fruits (Gita 2.47). So, before starting, ask: what is in my hands right now? The doing is. What the other person will think is not.
The second question comes from a verse in the last chapter.
सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्यागः सात्त्विको मतः ॥ १८.९ ॥
saṅgaṁ tyaktvā phalaṁ chaiva sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ || 18.9 ||
When a prescribed action is performed simply because it ought to be done, giving up attachment and the fruit as well, O Arjuna, that relinquishment is considered sāttvic (pure).
Work done because it ought to be done, with attachment and fruit let go, is called pure relinquishment (Gita 18.9). Ask: am I beginning this because it is right to do it, or only because of what it will bring me? The idea is taken further in Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action.
After the two questions, say one line: "This step is mine; the result is not."
During the task: keep attention on the next step
कर्मण्यभिप्रवृत्तोऽपि नैव किञ्चित्करोति सः॥ ४.२०॥
karmaṇy abhipravṛtto'pi naiva kiñcit karoti saḥ || 4.20 ||
One who has abandoned attachment to the fruits of action, who is ever content and independent of external supports, remains fully engaged in action yet, in truth, does nothing—that is, he does not become bound by his actions.
A person who has dropped attachment to the fruit stays fully engaged in the work and is still not bound by it (Gita 4.20). Letting go of the fruit does not make the work looser. The Lord calls yoga skill in action (Gita 2.50). So the question for this moment is: is my whole attention on this step?
The mind will run ahead anyway. When it does, say two words, "next step", and return to the work. The Gita describes the wise as those whose every undertaking is free from desire and from the grip of the fruit (Gita 4.19). Each time you come back from the result to the step, a little of that freedom happens.
After the task: hand the result over
निराशीर्निर्ममो भूत्वा युध्यस्व विगतज्वरः ॥ ३.३० ॥
nirāśhīr nirmamo bhūtvā yudhyasva vigata-jvaraḥ || 3.30 ||
Dedicating all your actions to Me, with your mind fixed on the Self, free from expectation and the sense of ownership, and free from mental fever, fight.
The Lord asks Arjuna to give all his actions over to Him, to act with the mind on the self, free from expectation, from the sense of "mine" and from the fever of worry (Gita 3.30). When the task ends, ask: what am I still expecting? What am I still calling "mine"? Then say: "My part is done."
Notice also how level the mind stays under praise and under blame. The Gita names that evenness yoga (Gita 2.48).
In the evening: three questions
Take two minutes at the end of the day. Three questions are enough.
- Where did I work today with my whole attention?
- When did my mind run ahead to the result, and what did I do then?
- Which one step will I take tomorrow in this way?
The review is for seeing, not for scoring. A person who is content with what comes and level in gain and loss is not bound even while acting (Gita 4.22), and the wise who give up the fruit reach a state without suffering (Gita 2.51). The small daily review is the way toward that.
An example: Ravi and the monthly accounts
Take Ravi, an accountant who must hand a client the month's accounts by Friday.
Each morning, before opening the file, he says: "Today's part is matching the bank entries. What the client says is not in my hands." During the work his mind jumps: what if there is a big mistake? He says "next step" and goes back to the next entry. In the evening he says, "Today's part is done."
On Thursday a mistake turns up. Ravi is shaken, but even in that moment he knows that correcting it is in his hands. He fixes it and tells the client. On Friday the client is a little irritated. Ravi hears this as information, not as a verdict on him. In his evening review he sees that his mind ran off four times that afternoon and came back four times. That is what pleases him most.
How to run the first week
Do not start everything on day one. Add one moment at a time.
| Days | What to add |
|---|---|
| 1 and 2 | Only the line before the task |
| 3 and 4 | "Next step" during the task |
| 5 | The line after the task: "My part is done" |
| 6 and 7 | The three evening questions |
This is practice: doing the same small thing again and again. The Lord says plainly that the mind is restless and hard to hold, and that it is held by practice and by dispassion (Gita 6.35). If a day is missed, return the next day at the same size.
Where the practice goes wrong
The first mistake is to turn "the result is not in my hands" into carelessness. Skill belongs to yoga (Gita 2.50), so the quality of the work should stay the same or grow.
The second is to turn the evening review into a trial of yourself. The review only looks. To know that the mind ran off four times is enough.
The third is to wait for a calm feeling before beginning. The lines come first and the feeling follows.
- Which one task today is a place where only the doing is in my hands?
- What does my mind run toward most while I work?
- Which result am I still calling "mine"?
- Which one moment can I make firm this week?
The four moments in one view
An intention before the task, the next step during it, the result handed over after it, and three questions at night. This is the everyday form of karma yoga, and the Lord calls this evenness yoga.
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥ २.४८ ॥
siddhyasiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga uchyate || 2.48 ||
Established in yoga, O Dhananjaya, perform your actions, abandoning attachment and remaining equal in success and failure. Such equanimity is called yoga.
Going deeper
For a shorter version with a single task and three lines, read the simple reading. The step before this on the path is Freedom Through Action, and the whole sequence is on The Path of Karma Yoga.