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Chapter 18 · The Perfection of Renunciation · 78 verses

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Duty & actionChapter 18 · The Perfection of Renunciation
18.1118.13

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 18.12

Duty, renunciation and giving up the fruits

अनिष्टमिष्टं मिश्रं च त्रिविधं कर्मण: फलम् ।

भवत्यत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु सन्न्यासिनां क्‍वचित् ॥ १२ ॥

aniṣṭam iṣṭaṁ miśraṁ ca

tri-vidhaṁ karmaṇaḥ phalam

bhavaty atyāgināṁ pretya

na tu sannyāsināṁ kvacit

Translation

For one who is not renounced, the threefold fruits of action – desirable, undesirable and mixed – accrue after death. But those who are in the renounced order of life have no such result to suffer or enjoy.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

Freedom from Action’s Results

  1. 1After death, those who are not renounced receive desirable, undesirable or mixed results of action; the renounced do not.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that one acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, knowing his relationship with Kṛṣṇa, is always liberated.
  3. 3Act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness with knowledge of your relationship with Kṛṣṇa.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 18, The Perfection of Renunciation: duty, renunciation and giving up the fruits.

What it teaches

Theme summary

Act dutifully without attachment to fruits.

2

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: karma, sva-dharma.

3

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 18.12 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to duty & action?

Practice

Do one task today purely because it is right.

4

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 18.2Duty, renunciation and giving up the fruitsBG 18.3Duty, renunciation and giving up the fruitsBG 2.47Responsibility without ownership of outcomesBG 3.21Leadership by example

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

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Back to step 3The key ideasNext · Step 5 of 7 · 5 minLive the teachingsBring it into your day with a practice and a question, straight from Prabhupāda's purports.