Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 12
अनिष्टमिष्टं मिश्रं च त्रिविधं कर्मणः फलम्।भवत्यत्यागिनां प्रेत्य न तु संन्यासिनां क्वचित्।।
aniṣṭam iṣṭaṁ miśraṁ ca tri-vidhaṁ karmaṇaḥ phalam
bhavaty atyāgināṁ pretya na tu sannyāsināṁ kvacit
also searched as "anishtam ishtam mishram cha trividham karmanah phalam"
Translation
Undesirable, desirable, and mixed—thus, threefold is the fruit of work that accrues after death to those who have not renounced; but to those who have renounced, none accrues whatsoever.
Vāṇi's rendering
Bitter, sweet, and mixed — the fruits of action follow the clinging even beyond death. They never follow the free.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अनिष्टम्aniṣṭam | unwanted, bitter |
| इष्टम्iṣṭam | wanted, sweet |
| मिश्रम्miśram | mixed, both at once |
| चca | and |
| त्रिविधम्tri-vidham | of three kinds |
| कर्मणःkarmaṇaḥ | of action |
| फलम्phalam | the fruit |
| भवतिbhavati | comes to be, accrues (sandhi: bhavati + atyāginām → bhavaty atyāginām) |
| अत्यागिनाम्atyāginām | for those who have not let go |
| प्रेत्यpretya | after death, having departed |
| नna | not |
| तुtu | but |
| संन्यासिनाम्sannyāsinām | for those who have set it down |
| क्वचित्kvacit | ever, in any way at all |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 12 mean?
Action bears fruit in three flavours — unwanted, wanted, and mixed — and that fruit attaches itself to whoever claims it, carrying past death. Krishna says the one who has genuinely set down ownership of results has nothing waiting for him anywhere. Not a smaller debt. No debt at all.
What does anishtam ishtam mishram cha trividham karmanah phalam teach?
That every result you can imagine already belongs to one of three kinds, and none of the three is worth the grip. Bitter wounds you, sweet holds you, mixed confuses you. Krishna is not ranking them. He is showing you that the rope is the same rope in all three colours.
Does this verse mean I should stop working?
No. Krishna spends the whole chapter refusing that reading. Sannyāsa here is inward — the giving up of the claim, not the effort. Your hands stay on the plough. What leaves is the accounting ledger you were keeping beside it, and the anxious arithmetic of what you are owed.
How can action leave no trace at all?
Because the trace is made of clinging, not of deeds. Fruit needs a claimant to stick to. When no one inside you steps forward to say mine, there is nothing for the result to fasten upon. The act happens fully and passes cleanly. Nothing follows you out of the room.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Krishna is not promising the free a better harvest. He is saying there is no harvest to come. Fruit is threefold — bitter, sweet, and the tangle of both — and it ripens on the one who claimed the tree. Arjuna wants to know which outcome to choose; Krishna tells him the choosing itself is what binds. Notice that renunciation here is not the abandoning of work. It is the abandoning of ownership. The same arrow leaves the same bow. Only one archer stands there afterward, waiting to be paid. Look at what you are waiting to collect, and see whose hand is out.