na hi dehabhṛtā śakyaṁ tyaktuṁ karmāṇyaśeṣataḥ | yastu karmaphalatyāgī sa tyāgītyabhidhīyate ||18.11||
Indeed actions cannot be given up completely by the one who sustains a body; but the one who is a renunciate of the results of action is called a tyāgī.
The person addressed here is one who identifies himself as the body and body as himself - dehabhṛtā. Because of his conclusion that he is the body, therefore whatever is done by the body, he concluded “I am the doer”. Even if he takes up sannyāsī, he will still look upon himself as the one who has given up all karma, doer-ship of non-doing is still there. In gītā 3.8 it is said that doing action that is to be done is superior to inaction, and even for maintenance of the body would be impossible by inaction. The point is that as long as one is still owning up the doer-ship and enjoyer-ship, he is not owning up himself as non-doer ātmā. Whether he is doing or not doing, he is still bound. Since he still can’t give up karma, but he can give up the result of karma. This verse is often quoted in praise of karma-yogī, even though he does karma, still he is tyāgī.
Now suppose a person is able to give up the identification with the body and gain sarva-karma-sannyāsa, what would be the result? That is told in the next verse.
aniṣṭamiṣṭaṁ miśraṁ ca trividhaṁ karmaṇaḥ phalam | bhavatyatyāgināṁ pretya na tu sannyāsināṁ kvacit ||18.12||
The three-fold result of action - undesirable, desirable, and a mixture - exists after death for the non-renunciates, but never for the renunciates.
The result of karma is three-fold - aniṣṭam - undesirable; iṣṭaṁ - desirable; and miśraṁ - a mixture of the two. Undesirable results are characterised by painful experience in naraka, or by taking birth in the form of an animal or some other life form lower than human being. Desirable result is characterised by birth in higher form than human beings like god, mane, etc. And because of the mixture of the two, the karma keeps on changing minute to minute which is in the form of the human body.
For whom do these three types of karma exist? Only for atyāgināṁ - non-renunciates of doer-ship and enjoyer-ship. And why is it said to exist after death? Because after dying of from the current body, one will have to assume another body to experience one or more of these three types of karma-phala. But not for the renunciate who see himself as akartā-abhoktā ātmā. For him, there is no karma-phala at all.
To show how one shouldn’t relate with doer-ship, Lord Krsna talks about five causes of karma in the next two verses.
pañcaitāni mahābāho kāraṇāni nibodha me | sāṅkhye kṛtānte proktāni siddhaye sarvakarmaṇām ||18.13||
Understand from me, Arjuna, the mighty armed! These five causes for the accomplishment of all karmas are told in the śāstra at the end of the Veda (that is, Vedanta) which is the point of culmination of all karma.
For the accomplishment of all forms of actions, whether scripturally enjoined - vaidika, or worldly - laukika, there are the five causes - pañcaitāni kāraṇāni. These five types of causes are told - proktāni in the vedānta-śāstra which is being called here as kṛtānta. What is done - kṛta is karma, and anta is end. It is called the end of karma because the first part of the Veda deals with karma, and vedānta is the part of śāstra that is at the end of the enumeration of all these karma. Or vedānta is the ending of karma where karma resolved into the knowledge of ātmā.
Everything that is to be done is done by him because when ātma-jñāna is born, everything else is accomplished, all karma resolves into his knowledge. Therefore Vedānta is called kṛtānta.
adhiṣṭhānaṁ tathā kartā karaṇaṁ ca pṛthagvidham | vividhāśca pṛthak ceṣṭā daivaṁ caivātra pañcamam ||18.14||
(They are) the physical body, the agent, the manifold means (of action), the distinct and diverse activities (of the prāṇas), and indeed, daiva (the presiding deities) is the fifth here.
The word adhiṣṭhānaṁ means basis and when it is used in the context of ātmā as the very basis - satya of the mithya world, like the rope is the adhiṣṭhānaṁ for the snake projected on it. Here adhiṣṭhānaṁ means the basis for performing action, since the subject matter under discussion is karma, therefore it is the place where all accomplishments are possible, where we can fulfil desire by taking action, which is the physical body. Śankarācārya says that it is the basis for the manifestation of desire, aversion, happiness, sorrow and knowledge. Desire manifests in the form of an effort to fulfil it; aversion manifests as an action of repulsion; all the sense organs bring in the data on the basis of which we experience sukha and dukha. For knowledge, perception which takes place only through sense organs and mind which are placed in the physical body. Even though one is bound because of identifying with this body, but only through the same body, one gains knowledge of the self and is free.
In the opening of kena-upanisad, the informed student asks “who directed the mind to do activities?” While the body is insentient, there must be a sentient being who takes the initiative for an action with certain intention, performs the action and owns it up, that is the agent - kartā or ahankāra. Then, there is the means - karaṇaṁ, the instrument through which the action is performed. This includes the five organs of action - kamendriyas; the five sense organs - jñāñendriyas; the mind - manas; and intellect - buddhi.
The fourth essential factor is prāna that makes all these activities possible. Without prāna the physical body will not hold the subtle body, which has the functional aspects of all these karaṇaṁ. The activities of - ceṣṭā, of this prāna are manifold and distinct - vividhāśca pṛthak, each one distinct from the other with its own separate function.
Then there is a fifth factor, the presiding deities of all these functionaries is collectively called daiva. Wherever there is function, there is a law involved, and it governs not only for individuals but also for total. Just like the functional structure of my eyes is the same for all the eyes. It means there is Īśvara in the form of eyes and in the form of laws that govern the eyes, and each organ. The physical body, prāna, sense organs, and the mind are all nothing but laws. If we look at Īśvara through those laws, each law becomes a devatā. Nothing is taken for granted, therefore for any karma to be accomplished, there must be daiva.
Note: for each faculty, its presiding deities and its corresponding object, please refer to archive 6 January 2019 under Tattvabodhah