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BG 18.12 — 18.12 The threefold fruit of action (evil, good and mixed) accrues after death to the non-abandoners, but never to the abandoners.
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अनिष्टमिष्टं मिश्रं च त्रिविधं कर्मणः फलम् |
भवत्यत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु संन्यासिनां क्वचित् ||१८-१२||

aniṣṭamiṣṭaṃ miśraṃ ca trividhaṃ karmaṇaḥ phalam . bhavatyatyāgināṃ pretya na tu saṃnyāsināṃ kvacit ||18-12||


18.12 The threefold fruit of action (evil, good and mixed) accrues after death to the non-abandoners, but never to the abandoners.

Word-by-word meanings

18.12 अनिष्टम् unwished or disagreeable or evil? इष्टम् wished or agreeable or good? मिश्रम् mixed? च and? त्रिविधम् threefold? कर्मणः of action? फलम् fruit? भवति accrues? अत्यागिनाम् to nonrenouncers? प्रेत्य after death? न not? तु but? संन्यासिनाम् to renouncers? क्वचित् ever.Commentary One fruit (of action) is pleasant? another is unpleasant? while the third is a mixture of both. Those in whom good actions preponderate are rorn as gods. Men of evil lives are rorn into animal or vegetable king

Commentaries

Non-dualism. The individual self and Brahman are one. The world is appearance (maya). Liberation through knowledge.

Sri Shankaracharya

18.12 These trividham, threefold-of three kinds; phalam, results; karmanah, of actions characterized as the righteous and the unritheous; anistam, the undesirable, consisting in (birth in) hell, (among) animals, etc.; istam, the desirable, consisting in (birth as) gods and others; and misram, the mixed, having a mixture of the desirable and the undesirable, consisting in (birht as) human beings;-these results that are of these kinds, bhavati, accrues; pretya, after death, after the fall of the body; atyaginam, to those who do not resort to renunciation, to the unilllumined, the men with rites and duties, who are not men of renunciation in the truest sense. The derivative sense of the word phala (pha-la) is this: On accunt of being accomplished through the operation of diverse external accessories, and a result of ignorance, comparable to the charm cast by jugglery, a source of great delusion and appearing as though close to the indwelling Self, it is phalgu (unsubstantial), and as a conseence it undergoes layam (disappearance). (The result that is of this kind accrues to those who do not resort to renunciation). Tu, but; na kvacit, never; sannyasinam, to those who resort tomonasticism for the sake of the highest Reality, to the class of monks called paramahamsas who remain steadfast in Knowledge alone. For, it cannot be that those who are devoted wholly to steadfastness in complete enlightenment do not dig out the seed of transmigration. This is the meaning. Therefore it is only for those who have realized the supreme Truth that it is possible to become a monk who renounces actions totally, because action, accessories and results are superimmpositions on the Self through ignorance. But the renunciation of all actions is not possible for an unenlightened person who perceives the locus (the body etc.), action, agentship and accessories as the Self. This the Lord shows in the following verses:

(Showing excerpt)

Swami Gambirananda

18.12 The threefold results of actions-the undesirable, the desirable, and the mixed-accrues after death to those who do not resort to renunciation, but never to those who resort to monasticism.

This interpretation draws on the Advaita tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

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