Renouncing the Fruits of Action
The one who crosses illusion abandons the very motive of reward, surrendering the fruits of all action to God.
Narada teaches in Sutra 48 that the soul crosses maya by 'renouncing even the fruits of action, abandoning all actions done for reward, and thereby transcending the pairs of opposites.' This is the heart of karma yoga woven into the path of love: acting without grasping at the results, offering everything to the Beloved. Freed from the anxious calculation of gain and loss, the devotee rises above the dualities of pleasure and pain, success and failure, that keep the worldly mind in turmoil. Action continues, but its inner poison — selfish craving for outcomes — is removed. Narada shows that devotion and selfless action are not opposed but flow together in the surrendered heart.
Renouncing even the fruits of action, one transcends the pairs of opposites.
Narada's counsel to act while renouncing the fruits is the essence of nishkama karma in the Gita, an ethic of full engagement combined with inner non-attachment to results.
Narada Bhakti Sutras
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- What the Narada Bhakti Sutras say about desire
Give up the results, not the work. The entry describes this as karma yoga woven into the path of love: the action is still performed, and its fruit is handed over rather than merely released.