Karmanye Vadhikaraste
Your claim is on the action, never on its fruits — the central verse of karma yoga. Bhagavad Gita 2.47.
Bhagavad Gita 2.47edition
Sanskrit · संस्कृत
Read in another script
No verified recitation yet. We publish audio only with a named reciter and a recorded licence, rather than files of unknown provenance.
Meaning
Your right is to the action alone, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruit of action be your motive, nor let attachment to inaction take hold in you.
This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.
A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.
How to recite
- Repetitions
- 3 · 11
- Time
- brahma muhurta, sunrise
Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong
- ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
- Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
- श ष स · ś ṣ s
- Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
- ः · ḥ (visarga)
- A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
- ं · ṃ (anusvara)
- Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
- Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū
- Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
- Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh
- A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.
Word by word
- कर्मणिkarmaṇi
- in action, in the work to be done(loc. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.258
- एवeva
- alone, onlyMW1899-CDSL p.232
- अधिकारःadhikāraḥ
- standing, jurisdiction, rightful claim(nom. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.20
- तेte
- yours(gen./dat. sg.)MW1899-CDSL p.855
- माmā
- not (prohibitive)MW1899-CDSL p.771
- फलेषुphaleṣu
- in the fruits, in the results(loc. pl.)MW1899-CDSL p.716
- कदाचनkadācana
- at any time, ever
Context
Shadanga — the six limbs
The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.
- chhanda
- Anushtubh
- devata
- Krishna
Recited at / traditionally recited for
Classified as Pauranic — From the Puranas. Most widely recited deity mantras belong here. Basis for this classification.
Related mantras
Purnamadah Purnamidam
The fullness verse — take fullness from fullness and fullness remains. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1.
Isha Vasyam Idam Sarvam
The opening verse of the Isha Upanishad — all this is pervaded by the Lord; enjoy what is left over.
Aham Brahmasmi
The mahavakya of the Yajurveda — I am Brahman. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10.