नैव तस्य कृतेनार्थो नाकृतेनेह कश्चन । न चास्य सर्वभूतेषु कश्चिदर्थव्यपाश्रयः ॥
naiva tasya kṛtenārtho nākṛteneha kaścana | na cāsya sarva-bhūteṣu kaścid artha-vyapāśrayaḥ ||
For the fully realized: neither action nor inaction gains or loses anything. They depend on no being for any purpose.
Word by word (3)
- kṛtena arthaḥ nāsti
- — by action, there is no purpose served (for such a one) · Kṛtena = by what is done, by action. Arthaḥ = purpose, benefit, gain. Nāsti (naiva...kaścana) = there is none. For the fully self-realized person, action produces no additional gain — they already have everything (being Brahman itself).
- akṛtena api na kaścana
- — by inaction also no loss · Akṛtena = by what is not done, by inaction. No loss either. The realized one is beyond gain and loss — their being is not augmented by doing nor diminished by not doing. This complete symmetry of action-inaction is the mark of genuine liberation.
- sarva-bhūteṣu na artha-vyapāśrayaḥ
- — no dependence on any being for any purpose · Artha-vyapāśrayaḥ = dependence on (anyone) for (any) purpose. The liberated one has no need from any creature — human, divine, or otherwise. This is radical self-sufficiency: not isolation but the natural consequence of being the Self that underlies all beings.
For such a person, there is nothing to be gained by action, and nothing lost by inaction. They have no dependence on any living being for any purpose whatsoever.
A modern analogy
A billionaire who has everything they could ever need — more money from one project or less from another does not change their fundamental condition. Now extend that to inner wealth: the ātma-tṛpta person has infinite Ātman — no action can add to it, no inaction diminish it. This is genuine independence, not indifference.
Take with you
- The fear of loss (by inaction) and desire for gain (by action) that drives most of us are absent in the realized person.
- Artha-vyapāśrayaḥ = depending on beings for purpose. Self-inquiry: how much of your action is driven by needing something from others?
- V18 is descriptive, not prescriptive — it describes the liberated state, not a method to achieve detachment artificially.
- The path to this state is karma-yoga (V19-24) — not bypassing action but purifying it.
V18 completes the portrait of the fully realized person begun in V17. The symmetry of 'no gain from action AND no loss from inaction' points to Brahman-identity: since Brahman is already everything, action cannot add to it and inaction cannot subtract. Shankaracharya uses this to draw a distinction between the jñāni and the karma-yogi: the jñāni is technically beyond karma-yoga, having attained what karma-yoga was pointing toward. The next verses (V19-24) then address the crucial question: if such a person has nothing to gain, why should they act? The answer — lokasaṃgraha (V20) — is the Gita's great social teaching.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
For him no purpose of any sort is gained by what is done, nor any by what is left undone; nor has he any dependence on all beings for any purpose. [1]
For him there is no object to attain by the things done, nor any by the things left undone here; nor has he any dependence on any being for any purpose. [4]
He has nothing to gain by performing or refraining from action; and for no object, however small, need he depend upon any being. [6]
No hope of gain is his who does or leaves undone; No weal of all living things is his woe. He needs nor those, nor these. [7]
For him there is no purpose to be served, either by doing or not doing anything in this world; nor does he depend upon any creature for any object. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The fully self-realized person has no binding duty — their joy, satisfaction, and fullness come entirely from within.
Therefore: do your required action without attachment — this is the path that leads to the Supreme.
Attachment to fruits abandoned, ever content, no dependence — fully active yet truly doing nothing at all.
These acts do not bind Me — I sit as one uninvolved, unattached to them, O Dhananjaya.
Rājasic tyāga: abandoning action as painful/from fear of body-trouble — obtains no fruit of tyāga.
Do My work, hold Me supreme, be My devotee, attachment-free, without enmity toward all — such a one comes to Me!