Verse 18.13

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 18.13:

पञ्चैतानि महा-बाहो कारणानि निबोध मे ।
साङ्ख्ये कृतान्ते प्रोक्तानि सिद्धये सर्व-कर्मणाम् ॥ १३ ॥

pañcaitāni mahā-bāho kāraṇāni nibodha me |
sāṅkhye kṛtānte proktāni siddhaye sarva-karmaṇām || 13 ||

pañca–five; etāni–these; mahā-bāho–O mighty-armed Arjuna; kāraṇāni–causes; nibodha–be informed; me–from Me; sāṅkhye–in the analysis of action within Vedānta; kṛta-ante–for ending the actions and reactions (of fruitive work); proktāni–described; siddhaye–for the accomplishment; sarva-karmaṇām–of all actions.

O mighty armed Arjuna, now hear from Me of the five causes involved in the accomplishment of any action. They are described in the Vedānta, and understanding them assists one in cutting the entanglement of the action and reaction of fruitive work.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

How can a person who performs his prescribed duty not receive its result? Expecting this question, Śrī Bhagavān is now speaking five verses beginning with pañcaitāni to establish that when one becomes free from the false ego of thinking oneself the doer, one does not become implicated in the results of karma. “Hear from Me about the five causes of action, which are responsible for the completion of all activities.”

That which fully explains Paramātmā is called sāṅkhya [saṅ–com-pletely; khyā–describes], also known as Vedānta-śāstra. Sāṅkhya explains how to nullify the reaction to activity that has already been performed.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

It is impossible for the embodied conditioned soul to relinquish all work. Furthermore, it is detrimental and inauspicious for an unqualified person to relinquish all types of work. Those in the initial stage of yoga practice are only qualified to engage in karma, prescribed duty. For this reason, they are instructed to abandon akarma, the non-performance of those duties, and vikarma, forbidden acts, and to perform their regular and occasional duties (nitya- and naimittika-karma). When a person’s attachment to the fruits of his prescribed duty gradually ceases, it is auspicious for him to continue to perform the karma prescribed in scripture, simply as a matter of duty. According to Kṛṣṇa, the symptom of a sannyāsī and a yogī is that they perform karma as a matter of duty, with no desire to enjoy the results. Those who can do this are real sannyāsīs and yogīs. When such persons obtain the association of Vaiṣṇavas, they can enter the realm of bhakti and very quickly attain the supreme destination.