BG-2.47 — Niṣkāma-Karma (the karma-yoga pivot)

BG-2.47

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन । मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥४७॥

"You have a right to action alone, never to its fruits. Do not be motivated by the fruits of action, nor let attachment arise toward inaction."

This is the most-quoted single verse of the Bhagavad Gītā — the operational kernel of the entire karma-yoga teaching. After 46 ślokas of diagnosis (Arjuna's paralysis, the immortality of the ātman, the stability of the sthitaprajña), Kṛṣṇa here gives the actual instruction. Jñāneśvar's commentary is unusually tight: just three ovis, each tightening one knot.

Ovi 2.264

Original (Marathi): म्हणोनि आइकें पार्था । याचिपरी पाहतां । तुज उचित होय आतां । स्वकर्म हें ॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (anchored by the vocative आइकें पार्था — "listen, Pārtha")

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
म्हणोनि	therefore
आइकें पार्था	listen, Pārtha (Kṛṣṇa's direct address)
याचिपरी पाहतां	looking in this way / having considered this
तुज उचित होय आतां	what is proper for you now
स्वकर्म हें	this — your own karma

Literal translation

English: Therefore listen, Pārtha — looking at it this way, what is now fitting for you is this — your own karma.

मराठी (आधुनिक): म्हणून ऐक, अर्जुना — असं पाहिलं तर तुला आता उचित ठरतं ते एकच गोष्ट: स्वतःचं कर्म.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. The teaching is direct exhortation.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi. The teaching is straight karma-yoga doctrine; the esoteric kuṇḍalinī/cakra frame Jñāneśvar uses in adhyāya 6 is not active here.

Cross-references

Internal: (none confidently identified for this ovi within Dnyāneśvarī beyond the obvious BG-3.x parallels handled at cluster level)
Tukaram parallel: (none specific to this ovi — see ovi 2.265 and 2.266 for substantive parallels)
Source citation: (none specific to this ovi — see 2.266 for verified Sanskrit-source citations)

Modern application

When you've been deliberating for weeks about whether to take an action and the analysis itself has become the avoidance. Jñāneśvar's म्हणोनि आइकें — "therefore listen" — closes the analysis. The action that's "uchita आतां" (fitting now) is the one already in front of you. Stop researching; act.
When you want to abandon the role you're in for one that looks more meaningful or spiritually grander. The mid-career professional who wants to "go become a teacher," the householder who wants to "take saṃnyāsa," the engineer who wants to "do something more meaningful" — Jñāneśvar names this trap exactly: स्वकर्म हें — this is your karma, the one already at your hand.
When you keep waiting for clarity before you act. Arjuna had the same demand — give me clarity first, then I'll fight. Kṛṣṇa's म्हणोनि आइकें is the refusal of that contract: there is no clarity that arrives before action; the clarity is the action done as duty.

Sādhanā

Today, name one duty you've been avoiding because you're "still thinking about it." Write it on a piece of paper, just the name, no plan. Then do the smallest unmistakable next step before the day ends — without rechecking whether it's the right step.

Arc

This ovi opens the closing summary of Kṛṣṇa's karma-yoga argument; 2.265 names the constraint (don't abandon it) and 2.266 names the inner discipline (don't act for the fruit).

Ovi 2.265

Original (Marathi): आम्हीं समस्तही विचारिलें । तंव ऐसेचि हें मना आलें । जें न सांडिजे तुवां आपुलें । विहित कर्म ॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (anchored by the divine first-person आम्हीं — Kṛṣṇa's royal "we", common in Vārkarī devanagari for the Lord's voice)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
आम्हीं	we (Kṛṣṇa's first-person plural, divine voice)
समस्तही विचारिलें	have considered everything
तंव ऐसेचि हें मना आलें	this is precisely what came to mind
जें न सांडिजे तुवां	that which must not be abandoned by you
आपुलें	your own
विहित कर्म	prescribed action (vihita-karma)

Literal translation

English: We have considered everything; what came to mind is exactly this — your own prescribed action must not be abandoned by you.

मराठी (आधुनिक): आम्ही सर्व बाजूंनी विचार केला, आणि जे मनात आलं ते हेच: तुझं स्वतःचं विहित कर्म तू सोडू नकोस.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: BG-3.35 (श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः) develops this same point — one's own dharma, even imperfectly performed, surpasses another's well-performed.
Tukaram parallel: Abhang 1432 — Tukaram's निष्ठावंत भाव भक्तांचा स्वधर्म ("steadfast bhāva is the bhakta's svadharma") paired with निष्काम निश्चळ विठ्ठलीं विश्वास ("desire-less unwavering trust in Viṭṭhal") — the same coupling: svadharma is the form, niṣkāma is the inner condition.
Source citation: Bhagavad Gītā 3.4 — न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं ("freedom from karmic reaction is not achieved by not starting actions") — formal reinforcement that abandoning vihita-karma is not the path.

Modern application

When your duty doesn't feel grand or "spiritual" but it's yours. The single parent who wants to "find their calling" while their kids need school lunches packed; the manager whose actual work is unglamorous people-management while they fantasize about strategy. Jñāneśvar's विहित कर्म is the work that is prescribed by your station — not the work you imagine for yourself.
When you want to leave a role for one that looks more dharmic. Most spiritual abandonments are flights from svadharma dressed up as upgrades to a higher path. Jñāneśvar names this trap: न सांडिजे तुवां आपुलें — do not abandon your own.
When the work in front of you feels beneath you. आपुलें is not chosen — it's given. Whatever is at your hand is the assignment. The argument is not that this duty is the best one available; it's that this duty is the one given to you, and that's a stronger claim than "best."

Sādhanā

Today, write down what your विहित कर्म actually is for this stage of life — the specific obligations and roles you would shirk if you weren't disciplined. Don't generalize. Write 3-5 concrete duties by name.

Arc

2.265 names the form (don't abandon svadharma); 2.266 will name the inner condition (don't desire the fruit, don't act with hetu).

Ovi 2.266

Original (Marathi): परी कर्मफळीं आस न करावी । आणि कुकर्मीं संगति न व्हावी । हे सत्क्रियाचि आचरावी । हेतूविण ॥ Voice: krishna-to-arjuna (continuing the imperative — आचरावी is the operative directive form)

Word-by-word gloss

Marathi	Meaning
परी	but / however
कर्मफळीं आस न करावी	do not desire/hope for the fruits of action
आणि कुकर्मीं संगति न व्हावी	and do not associate with wrong-actions (ku-karma)
हे सत्क्रिया चि आचरावी	this good-action alone should be performed
हेतूविण	without motive / without ulterior cause (hetu)

Literal translation

English: But do not desire the fruits of action, and do not associate with wrong action — perform only this good action, without any motive.

मराठी (आधुनिक): पण कर्माच्या फळाची आशा ठेवू नकोस, आणि वाईट कर्मांची संगत धरू नकोस — हेच सत्कर्म कर, कोणत्याही हेतूशिवाय.

Metaphor-unfold

No extended metaphor in this ovi. The teaching is the formal triadic ethical command: (a) no fruit-desire, (b) no kukarma-association, (c) hetu-vihīna performance.

Nāth-yogic layer

No Nāth-yogic referent in this ovi.

Cross-references

Internal: BG-6.1 (अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः) restates the same teaching for the renunciate-yogi context, much later in the text.
Tukaram parallels:
Abhang 64 — कर्मफळ म्हणुनी इच्छूं नये काम ("don't desire action-as-karma-fruit") — exact substantive match, with concrete images (flower/fragrance, instrument-played) standing in for what Jñāneśvar states as abstract doctrine.
Abhang 2854 — Tukaram's systematic householder-ethics names परम-पद by बळ वैराग्याचें ("the highest station, by the strength of detachment") — the same coupling that Jñāneśvar makes: continued action + non-attachment to fruit.
Source citations:
Bhagavad Gītā 3.19 — तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर — formal restatement of the imperative.
Iśa Upaniṣad 2 — कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः ... न कर्म लिप्यते नरे — the Upaniṣadic root: action performed without ego-attachment does not cling.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 11.20 — places karma-yoga as a legitimate sādhana alongside jñāna and bhakti; an echo (not paraphrase) of the framework Jñāneśvar inherits.

Modern application

When you're tempted to skip the principle for the result. The "small lie" to get the promotion. The corner-cut for the deadline. The compromise that gets you the outcome you want. Jñāneśvar's कुकर्मीं संगति न व्हावी is the explicit refusal of this trade: don't even associate with wrong-action, even when it's the shortest path to a good fruit.
When your practice is driven by the metric and not the practice. The gym workout you do because you saw the scale; the meditation you do because you want to feel calm; the kindness you do because you want to be seen as kind. All result-driven. हेतूविण — without motive — is the precise diagnosis. The practice and the result must be unhooked.
When you want to act, but only if it works. The conditional action — "I'll try, but only if I see results." Jñāneśvar's हे सत्क्रियाचि आचरावी insists on the unhooked form: the right action, performed for its own form, with results as something the universe handles. You're not in charge of results; you're only in charge of the right action being done.

Sādhanā

Today, do one good thing without telling anyone. No social-media post, no mention to a friend, no journal entry counting it. No "I did this today." Just the act, and then no record. Notice what becomes available when the action is detached from the audience.

Arc

2.266 closes the cluster with the formal triadic command: no fruit-desire, no kukarma-association, only sat-kriyā, hetu-vihīna. The next śloka (BG-2.48) will elaborate the inner posture — samattva, evenness — in which this triad is actually lived.

Cluster summary

Core teaching: Niṣkāma-karma is not abstention from action. It is the continued performance of one's prescribed duty (svadharma / vihita-karma) while refusing two distinct traps that look opposed but are equally fatal: attaching to the fruit of the action, and attaching to inaction itself.

Chapter arc position: This is the pivot of adhyāya 2's karma-yoga argument. Kṛṣṇa has spent the first 30 ślokas analyzing Arjuna's paralysis, and ślokas 31-46 establishing the doctrinal foundation (the immortal ātman, the dharma of the kṣatriya, the inner stability of the sthitaprajña). At 2.47 the analysis closes and the operational instruction begins. From this verse onward, karma-yoga is the manual, not the proof.

Connects to BG-2.48: योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा — "established in yoga, perform action having abandoned attachment." Where 2.47 issues the imperative (act, but without the fruit-attachment), 2.48 names the inner posture (samattva, evenness) within which that imperative becomes livable. The two ślokas together are the operational kernel — 2.47 is the rule, 2.48 is the technique.