Quiz · 18.1–18.12
Renunciation and relinquishment
Cover the answer. Read the Devanagari of the verse before you open it.
1
In 18.11, what case is deha-bhṛtā (देह-भृता), and what question does that case answer beside śakyam (शक्यम्)?
Answer
Instrumental singular of deha-bhṛt (देह-भृत्), a body-bearer. śakyam (शक्यम्) is impersonal, "it is possible," and the instrumental answers "by whom." The abandoning, tyaktum (त्यक्तुम्), is the thing that is or is not possible. The body-bearer is not the nominative subject.
2
In 18.9, kriyate (क्रियते) stands in front of arjuna (अर्जुन). What is recited, and which sandhi makes it?
Answer
kriyate 'rjuna (क्रियतेऽर्जुन). ए + अ e + a drops the a (अ) of arjuna (अर्जुन) and leaves the avagraha. The e (ए) is the passive ending, and it stays. Read क्रियते + अर्जुन kriyate + arjuna when you split.
3
What does 18.11 say, in one sentence?
Answer
A body-bearer cannot abandon actions entirely, and the one who relinquishes the fruit of action is the one who is called a relinquisher.
4
Where does 18.1–18.12 sit in the talk between Arjuna (अर्जुन) and Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण)?
Answer
Arjuna (अर्जुन) asks the truth of saṃnyāsa (संन्यास) and of tyāga (त्याग), each apart from the other. Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण) says the poets know saṃnyāsa (संन्यास) as the laying down of acts done from a wish, and the discerning call tyāga (त्याग) the relinquishment of the fruit of every act. Sacrifice, gift, and austerity are kept, and they are to be done once attachment and the fruits are abandoned. tyāga (त्याग) is of three kinds: from delusion it is tāmasa (तामस), from fear of bodily trouble it is rājasa (राजस), and the sāttvika (सात्त्विक) kind does the appointed act while letting go of attachment and of the fruit. A body-bearer cannot abandon actions entirely. After death the threefold fruit accrues to those who do not relinquish, and never to the renouncers.
5
Cover 18.9 and 18.11. Which two things does the sāttvika (सात्त्विक) tyāga (त्याग) abandon, and which word fails the stretch if the body-bearer is said to drop every act?
Answer
saṅgam (सङ्गम्) and phalam (फलम्): attachment, and the fruit. The appointed act is still done. The word is deha-bhṛtā (देह-भृता). If that body-bearer abandons actions aśeṣataḥ (अशेषतः), the stretch is lost. The one called tyāgī (त्यागी) is the karma-phala-tyāgī (कर्म-फल-त्यागी).