Bhagavad Gita 2.49
दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनञ्जय । बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणाः फलहेतवः ॥
dūreṇa hy avaraṃ karma buddhi-yogād dhanañjaya | buddhau śaraṇam anviccha kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ ||
Translation
Mere action, O Dhananjaya, is far inferior to action with understanding. Seek refuge in understanding. Pitiable are those whose motive is the fruit.
Reflection
Where are you doing the right work with the wrong frame, and feeling it cost you?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Two
Kṛpaṇāḥ phala-hetavaḥ. Pitiable are those whose motive is the fruit. The strongest language Krishna has used so far against fruit-driven action. Kṛpaṇa is a hard word: small, miserly, pinched. Buddhi-yoga, action joined to understanding, is set against bare action driven by outcome. The verse insists: the same act done with the inner frame open is incomparably better than the same act done with the inner frame closed. The work matters; the relation to its results matters more. The frame is the difference between practice and grasping.