The Right to Act, but Not to Its Fruit

answered by Bhagavad Gītā 2:47

기원전 2세기경 편찬(서사시 전승)

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (2003)

dir. Isshin Inudo · Japan

Two people love each other deeply, yet a foreknowledge that the love will not last forever shadows it from the start. It asks whether pouring a whole heart now into a love that seems destined to end is foolish, or the courage to release the outcome and devote oneself to the moment.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

To love with a whole heart now, knowing it will one day end — is that foolish, or brave?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

Your right is to the action alone, never to its fruits.

💡 TL;DR

The old teacher of the Gita told us we have the right to act but no right to its fruits.

📝The Classic Answers

The old teacher of the Gita told us we have the right to act but no right to its fruits. I read this as an answer to a love with a set ending. That this love will one day end lies in the realm of fruit we cannot control, but to love now with a whole heart is fully the portion of action given to us. That the ending is parting does not make the present love vain. It is precisely the one who rations love by calculating the fruit in advance who loses even their own portion of action. Rather than postponing love for fear of the end, I choose to release the outcome from my hands and give this heart fully now.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If worry about the ending makes you hesitate in a relationship or task, set aside the calculation of outcome for a moment and give your whole heart to one thing you can do now.

📖 Classic Source: Bhagavad Gītā 2:47. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.