Sanskrit
नैव तस्य कृतेनार्थो नाकृतेनेह कश्चन । न चास्य सर्वभूतेषु कश्चिदर्थव्यपाश्रयः ॥
naiva tasya kṛtenārtho nākṛteneha kaścana na cāsya sarvabhūteṣu kaścid arthavyapāśrayaḥ
Translation
For him there is no interest in things done, in this world, nor any in things not done, nor doth any object of his depend on any being.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Verse 17’s portrait is completed with total symmetry — no stake in action done, none in action left undone, and no dependence on any other being for anything. This is as far as the text pushes the case for pure self-sufficiency before reversing direction in verse 19 to explain why action continues anyway. The last clause is the strongest: na asya sarva-bhūteṣu kaścid artha-vyapāśrayaḥ — not one being anywhere is instrumentally needed by him. Precisely because nothing is owed inward, BG 3.19 can ask that everything be given outward.
Study deeper
Word by word
- naiva tasyaनैव तस्य
- not at all, for him (na + eva)
- kṛtenārthoकृतेनार्थो
- a purpose in action done (kṛtena + arthaḥ)
- nākṛteneha kaścanaनाकृतेनेह कश्चन
- nor any in action undone here (na + akṛtena + iha)
- na cāsyaन चास्य
- nor for him (na + ca + asya)
- sarvabhūteṣuसर्वभूतेषु
- among all beings
- kaścidकश्चिद्
- any
- arthavyapāśrayaḥअर्थव्यपाश्रयः
- dependence for a purpose (artha-vyapāśrayaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The completeness of this portrait — no stake in doing, none in not-doing, no dependence on any being — is what makes verse 19’s “therefore” so strange to read literally. A person with genuinely nothing to gain or lose isn’t being told to act despite that fact; the absence of stakes is being repurposed as the precondition for the one kind of action that’s actually clean.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you truly have nothing personally riding on an outcome, don't treat that as a reason to disengage — it's actually the condition under which you can act most cleanly, without your own stake distorting the effort. Use the freedom, don't waste it on withdrawal.
Professional
- When you're assigned to a project with no bearing on your own performance review or advancement, don't treat that as license to coast — that's precisely the situation where you can contribute with the least self-interested distortion. Use the neutrality, don't discard it.
Family & Social
- When you have nothing personally to gain from helping someone in your family — no reciprocity expected, no credit likely — recognize that as the clearest condition for genuinely selfless help, not a reason to skip it. The absence of stakes is an opportunity, not an excuse.
Ask yourself
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