18.11 No one can give it up entirely Krishna speaks
न हि देहभृता शक्यं त्यक्तुं कर्माण्यशेषतः
यस्तु कर्मफलत्यागी स त्यागीत्यभिधीयते
na hi deha-bhṛitā śhakyaṁ tyaktuṁ karmāṇy aśheṣhataḥ
yas tu karma-phala-tyāgī sa tyāgīty abhidhīyate
It is not possible for one who bears a body to give up action entirely. But one who lets go of the fruit of action is called a renouncer.
Explanation
It is not possible to give up action entirely.
Eleven verses into the final chapter, the Gita concedes the thing plainly: nobody who bears a body can stop.
So the renouncer is redefined rather than described — one who lets go of the fruit. It is 3.5's argument arriving as a closing definition instead of a rebuttal.
Going further
Word by word
- na
- not
- hi
- indeed
- deha-bhṛitā
- for the embodied being
- śhakyam
- possible
- tyaktum
- to give up
- karmāṇi
- activities
- aśheṣhataḥ
- entirely
- yaḥ
- who
- tu
- but
- karma-phala
- fruits of actions
- tyāgī
- one who renounces all desires for enjoying the fruits of actions
- saḥ
- they
- tyāgī
- one who renounces all desires for enjoying the fruits of actions
- iti
- as
- abhidhīyate
- are said
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It is not possible for one who bears a body to give up action entirely.
Eleven verses into the final chapter, the Gita restates what it established at 3.5, and the placement matters. Arjuna's original question in 18.1 was about renunciation, and the answer is that the thing he is asking about does not exist in the form he imagines. What is available is letting go of the fruit — which is where the book started.