Wanting to enjoy the fruits of our actions also forces us to accept the consequences that result.
The Lord said, “You have the right to fulfill your duties, but not to enjoy the fruit of your actions. Never believe to be the cause of the aftermath of the action, and at no time seeks to escape your duty”.
Three factors must be considered here: duty, independent action, and inaction.
The prescribed duties correspond to the obligations which we must face as long as we are controlled by the three attributes and modes of influence of the material nature: virtue, passion and ignorance.
Independent actions correspond to those that are carried out without taking into account the instructions given to us by the Vedas, the original Holy Scriptures and qualified spiritual masters.
And inaction is refusing to do one’s duty.
The Lord advises us not to take the path of inaction, but rather to act according to one's duty, without clinging to the results, because whoever clings to the fruits of action also takes upon himself the responsibility for his actions, and must therefore enjoy or suffer their consequences.
The prescribed duties can be of three kinds, routine duties, emergency duties, and desired occupations.
Routine duties will be performed according to the standards of the original scriptures and without attachment to the fruits that flow therefrom. Because these are imposed duties, fulfilling them is a matter of virtue.
The action made in view of its fruits engenders on the contrary enslavement, and must therefore be considered as very harmful.
Everyone has the right to fulfill his duty, but no one should ever act in view of the results. To fulfill one's obligations in a spirit of detachment is to take a sure step towards spiritual liberation.
Each one must lend himself to the work corresponding to his own nature.
For example, one may be attracted to the duty of a wise scholar, which is a virtue, but if one is not by nature governed by virtue, one must above all not imitate the wise scholar in his activities, because we risk deceiving many people.
We must act only to satisfy Krishna, God, the Supreme Person. Every act aimed at personal satisfaction goes on to matter. This is why each of us must engage in the acts corresponding to the attribute and mode of influence of the material nature; virtue, passion or ignorance, specific which marks his existence and decide to act only to serve the supreme cause, Lord Krishna’s cause.