So, dear reader, when you face your own dry season—your own uncertain river—remember the two farmers. Pick up your shovel. Do the work in front of you. Leave the rest to life itself.
In a fertile valley divided by a great river, there lived two farmers: Arjun and Vikram. Both were hardworking, but their hearts worked very differently.
Vikram smiled gently. “Brother, I did not dig for the spring. I dug because it was the right action to take. The Gita teaches us: ‘Karmanye vadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadachana’ — You have a right to your action, but never to its fruits.” bhagavad gita quotes on karma
Arjun rushed to his own shovel, but it was too late. The spring had found its path through Vikram’s canal. Arjun’s field, which he had refused to work on without a guarantee, remained dry.
Vikram wiped his brow and said, “I know two things: the village needs water, and I know how to dig. The result is not in my hands. But the act of digging? That is in my hands.” So, dear reader, when you face your own
On the tenth day, a strange thing happened. As Vikram dug, he struck a layer of porous rock. Water—not from rain, but from an underground spring—began to seep into the canal. Slowly at first, then in a steady, cool stream. By the twelfth day, the spring water reached Vikram’s field and began flowing toward the village well.
Every year, the monsoon rains were unpredictable. Sometimes the river would swell and flood the fields; other times, it would shrink to a trickle. Leave the rest to life itself
Arjun picked up his shovel, but his mind was already calculating. “If I dig,” he thought, “and the rains still don’t come, my effort will be wasted. But if I don’t dig, and the rains come, the water will flow to Vikram’s field first. I will only dig if I am certain my field will be saved.” He spent three days measuring the distance, calculating the odds, and waiting for a guarantee. He did not dig.