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Story - If No One Sees What I Have Done But I Believe God Will

A simhasanam (throne) for a deity was being carved. The carpenter was busy at work. One of the people involved came to see how the work was progressing. The carpenter had completed carving the beautiful design of intertwined flowers and leaves in the front and was now working on the back of the simhasanam.

“Why are you carving the back of the throne? Who is going to see it? It is going to be against the wall” said the official. “Are you trying to add extras to your bill and inflate it? Don’t waste your time, you will not get anything extra”, he snapped for he was in charge of the payments to the workers.

The carpenter answered without even looking up from his work. “Yes, I know this part will be against the wall and nobody will probably see it once it is placed. No, I am not charging anything extra for this. Without doing this, my work will be incomplete and even if none sees what I have done, I believe God will”.

The carpenter was acting exactly as Bhagavan Krishna advised in the Bhagavad Gita:

karmanyevadhikarastemaphalesukadacana – you have a right to action but not to its fruits (2:47).

SourceJune 2021 Sapthagiri magazine published by TTD – article titled Yogah Karmasu Kousalam by Smt D K Ahana Lakshmi