Chapter 18 Shloka 11

न ही देहभृता शक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्माण्यशेषत:।

यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यभिधीयते ।।११।।

Since the embodied individual

is incapable of relinquishing all actions,

he who renounces the fruits of action

is a tyaagi – so it is said.

Chapter 18 Shloka 11

न ही देहभृता शक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्माण्यशेषत:।

यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यभिधीयते ।।११।।

The Lord says:

Since the embodied individual is incapable of relinquishing all actions, he who renounces the fruits of action is a tyaagi – so it is said.

The embodied soul must necessarily engage in action

1. Under no circumstances can the embodied soul relinquish action.

2. Even when the Unmanifest Lord embodies Himself, He is incessantly engaged in action.

3. Even the sages, the saints and men of wisdom constantly engage in action.

4. Sadhana too, is an action.

5. The sanyasi or renunciate also performs deeds.

6. The very life of man is an unbroken flow of action.

7. Proof of a sadhak’s state is to be found in his deeds.

8. Theoretical knowledge finds proof in action.

Understand this again.

1. It is only through contact with another person that knowledge or gyan becomes vigyan or practical knowledge.

2. It is only through interaction with others that one’s knowledge can be ascertained.

3. The proof of one’s divine treasury of qualities is to be found in the flow of those qualities towards others.

4. The flow of those qualities must be towards other individuals and for other individuals.

5. The proof of the state of sthit pragya can only be verified in adversity.

6. The practice of becoming a gunatit or one who has transcended all qualities can only be effected when one is dwelling amidst a profusion of qualities.

7. The practice of a life of yagya can also be verified by the efficacy with which one offers one’s body, mind and intellect for the other.

The Lord has constantly repeated:

1. Yagya, tapas – the practice of forbearance, and daan – deeds of charity are innately purifying. (Chp.18, shloka 5)

2. One must become a sarva bhoot hite ratah – one who endeavours for the welfare of all beings. (Chp.12, shloka 4)

3. It is only those who strive thus for the welfare of all beings who attain Brahm Nirvana or emancipation through abidance in the state of Brahm. (Chp.5, shloka 25)

All this necessitates actions. Actions are the purifiers. My little one, one must necessarily act – yet one must be vigilant that one’s actions are devoid of the doership attitude. When there is an absence of this attitude of doership, then whose are those actions that are performed? Actions will still continue, but there will be no doer. One could equate the absence of the idea of doership with the relinquishment of action or karma tyaag – but it is absolutely impossible for the body to cease performing actions.

Therefore the Lord says, “The elimination of attachment with the fruits of action is true renunciation.” He has specified earlier, “Renounce actions mentally – that is true renunciation.”

That embodied soul who is not equipped with the dehatma buddhi – the intellect that identifies itself with the body – is naught else but Atma in bodily form. The Unmanifest One and those who have transcended the body idea are also embodied souls from the point of view of the world. The Lord says of Himself, “I have no duty – yet I engage in action.” He has further said:

1. If I did not act, then people would also relinquish action. They will always try to do as I do. (Chp.3, shloka 23)

2. If I did not act, the world would perish. I would then be the progenitor of illegitimate offspring and the destroyer of this entire creation due to moha. (Chp.3, shloka 24)

3. A gyani or man of knowledge should perform actions like those of the ignorant, but in the interest of mankind. (Chp.3, shloka 25)

4. The Self Realised man of wisdom must not infuse dilemmas in those ignorant souls who are attached to action, and must guide them into action even whilst performing all actions himself. (Chp.3, shloka 26)

One must remember however, that the Lord says all this from His own point of view. He is saying all this for the man of great learning. The Lord has no duty, yet He performs all duties. What then can one say to those deluded spiritual aspirants:

a) who have relinquished their duties?

b) who, as a first step, endeavour to escape from their duty?

c) who first harm their own near and dear ones?

d) who proclaim that all deeds should be relinquished, yet who embroil themselves in such dreadful deeds because they renounce actions instead of the attachment to those actions?

e) who, instead of practising divine qualities, sever their natural relationships with other beings?

f) who do not renounce the desire for the fruits of action, yet who migrate to distant places and pursue their sadhana and perform various actions with an eye on the fruits of action.

The Lord clarifies that actions have to be performed. Yet He warns us never to renounce those actions that constitute yagya, tapas and daan, but to relinquish attachment instead; this verily is tyaag. Attachment is primarily with the body-self and thereafter with another object. If attachment ceases, what must one relinquish – and what must one not renounce?

However, the Lord has repeatedly spoken of the renunciation of the fruits of action as true tyaag. He has specified that only selfless deeds comprise tyaag.