Efforts And End Results

EFFORTS AND END RESULTS

Every one of us is familiar with Lord Krishna’s exhortation to Arjuna in Bhagavad Geetha - ‘ You have right only for efforts and not the fruits thereof’. But in our day to day life, we are respected only if we produce results. ‘Be result oriented, be an effective man/woman’ are the advices hurled upon quite often. Have not our spouses and senior colleagues tell us often - “Who wants to hear about your efforts? I want result’. How to reconcile the emphasis on effort and the focus on result? Are the efforts- obsessed and the result- oriented, mutually exclusive?

To understand any message, particularly, if it is purported to be a Divine Message, it is essential to appreciate its contextual relevance. Krishna advised Arjuna when the latter was overwhelmed by the possible adverse results and hence was not willing to put in any effort. Arjuna was not willing to put any effort, not because he lacked confidence, but because he was supremely confident. Both Krishna and Arjuna knew it for certain that Arjuna would win the battle and Arjuna knew that his victory meant the destruction of Drona, his Guru, Bhishma Pitamaha, the family patriarch and the supreme commander of Hasthinapura forces and his own kith and kin- an eventuality not acceptable to him. To a man obsessed with results and its impact on the life around him, would it have been worthwhile to tell to be result oriented? It was necessary for Krishna to dissuade Arjuna from tormenting his thoughts about adverse results and concentrate only on efforts in stead, leaving the results to Divine dispensation. Being a great mind reader, Krishna precisely did that. Concentration only on efforts has the added advantage of making one not to become crest fallen, should the efforts end in failure. To remain calm in adversity requires tremendous amount of maturity, which concentration on efforts alone provides. A man possessed with the thoughts of results alone would not be able to withstand failures.

Coming down to Management Gurus and “Effective Management” slogans, let us appreciate the fact that the world respects only results and not mere efforts. This is because, unlike Arjuna, none of us are sure of success in our efforts. Thus, when there is a possibility of failure, there is also a premium on success. That is why we find talks about result oriented actions, ‘I want result only’ etc. If the destination is undecided, would the journey be enjoyable? Secondly, our actions and efforts become meaningful only if they have an objective. Swami Chinmayanand once said, ‘Have a goal and surrender to your goal’. Today in the modern management parlance, it is known as focus. Every successful Manager is described as highly focused. You focus on the results to achieve and your efforts would be in the right direction. You focus on the efforts alone and it becomes meaningless as efforts unrelated to an objective would lead one no where. A Sachin Tendulkar, a Michael Schumacher or a Tiger Wood are indifferent to results because they are brimming with confidence and are achievers. For those who are unsure of success exhortation as to be result- orientation is certainly needed. Thus, it will be apparent that Krishna ’s advice to Arjuna to concentrate only on efforts and the day to day advices being given to us to be result oriented, are not mutually exclusive, but have only contextual relevance.

Efforts for the Angels obsessed with results and end orientation for lesser mortals that suffer from lack of focus, seems to be the lesson one should learn.


V.Mahadevan

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