Bhagavad Gita · 18.1 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·1 of 78
अर्जुन उवाच संन्यासस्य महाबाहो तत्त्वमिच्छामि वेदितुम्।त्यागस्य च हृषीकेश पृथक्केशिनिषूदन ॥
arjuna uvācha sannyāsasya mahā-bāho tattvam ichchhāmi
veditum tyāgasya cha hṛiṣhīkeśha pṛithak keśhi-niṣhūdana
Sanskrit recitation
True renunciation · 18.1–18.12 · Teaching
Translation
Arjuna said, "O mighty-armed Hrishikesa, I desire to know the essence or truth of renunciation and abandonment severally, O slayer of Kesi."
Meaning
The teaching of the whole of the GitaSastra is summed up beautifully in this discourse. This last discourse is a brief masterly summary of all that is told in the previous chapters. Arjuna wishes to know the distinction between Sannyasa and Tyaga.Kesi was an Asura whom Lord Krishna slew. So Lord Krishna is addressed as Kesinishudana by Arjuna.The words Sannyasa and Tyaga have been used here and there in the preceding discourses but their connotations are not lucidly distinguished. Therefore Lord Krishna clearly explains to Arjuna the right significance of the two terms in the following verse.
After Swami Sivananda
True renunciation· 18.1–18.12→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
18.1Arjuna said, "O mighty-armed Hrishikesa, I desire to know the essence or truth of renunciation and abandonment severally, O slayer of Kesi."
- 18.2The Blessed Lord said, "The sages understand sannyasa to be the renunciation of action with desire; the wise declare the abandonment of the fruits of all actions to be tyaga."
- 18.3Some philosophers declare that actions should be abandoned as evil; while others declare that acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity should not be relinquished.
- 18.4Hear from Me the conclusion or the final truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, indeed, O best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds.
- 18.5Acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity should not be abandoned, but should be performed; for sacrifice, gift, and austerity are the purifiers of the wise.
- 18.6But even these actions should be performed, leaving aside attachment and the desire for rewards, O Arjuna; this is my certain and most assured conviction.
- 18.7Verily, the renunciation of obligatory action is not proper; the abandonment of the same out of delusion is declared to be Tamasic.
- 18.8He who abandons action out of fear of bodily trouble (because it is painful), does not obtain the merit of renunciation by performing such Rajasic renunciation.
- 18.9Whatever obligatory action is done, O Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and also the desire for reward, that renunciation is regarded as sattvic (pure).
- 18.10The man of renunciation, pervaded by purity, intelligent, and with his doubts cut asunder, does not hate an unpleasant task nor is he attached to a pleasant one.
- 18.11Indeed, it is not possible for an embodied being to completely abandon actions; however, he who relinquishes the rewards of actions is truly called a man of renunciation.
- 18.12The threefold fruit of action (evil, good, and mixed) accrues after death to those who do not abandon it, but never to those who do.
Word-by-word→
- cha
- and
- tattvam
- the truth
- veditum
- to understand
- pṛithak
- distinctively
- tyāgasya
- of renunciation of desires for enjoying the fruits of actions
- ichchhāmi
- I wish
- mahā-bāho
- mighty-armed one
- sanyāsasya
- of renunciation of actions
- arjunaḥ uvācha
- Arjun said
- hṛiṣhīkeśha
- Krishna, the Lord of the senses
- keśhī-niṣhūdana
- Krishna, the killer of the Keshi demon
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