Bhagavad Gita 5.12

yuktaḥ karma-phalaṁ tyaktvā

śāntim āpnoti naiṣṭhikīm

ayuktaḥ kāma-kāreṇa

phale sakto nibadhyate

 

“Yogis who renounce the fruits of action,

Attain a peace that is beyond disruption.

Clinging to results, craving with selfish desire,

Others are bound by karma, caught in its fire.”

 

My dear Lord, the way to inner peace is not by becoming attached to gaining so much outer control that no one can threaten my peace. That, in most cases, is impossible to attain. And even if such control could be attained, it would be unsustainable in the long run.

Bless me, O Lord, to see that this vision of peace through outer power is a mere pipe dream, a mirage, a phantasmagoria. Even when I seek such outer power for my basic physical security, let me never believe, my Lord, that it can ever guarantee my mental serenity.

The only way to lasting peace, my Lord, is when I detach myself from externals—especially from seeing them as the basis of my security or identity—and instead focus on connecting with you, who alone are the eternal basis of my security and identity.

You, my Lord, declare that I am your eternal part, and you will never abandon me. To the extent that I do not abandon you—by letting my consciousness rest in things other than you—to that extent, I will feel your protection and thereby find a peace that no worldly upheaval can ever take away.

Grant me, O Lord, the clarity to see that absorption in you is the only source of actual security. Let me, my Lord, cultivate the spirituality that grants such security as my topmost priority.

***

05.12 The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me; whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine, who is greedy for the fruits of his labor, becomes entangled.