Bhagavad Gita · 18.2 · Yoga through the Perfection of Renunciation and Surrender·2 of 78
श्री भगवानुवाच काम्यानां कर्मणां न्यासं संन्यासं कवयो विदुः।सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं प्राहुस्त्यागं विचक्षणाः ॥
śhrī-bhagavān uvācha kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ sannyāsaṁ
kavayo viduḥ sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaṁ prāhus tyāgaṁ vichakṣhaṇāḥ
Sanskrit recitation
True renunciation · 18.1–18.12 · Teaching
Translation
The 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."
Meaning
The performance of activities for results has to be given up. This is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā . But activities leading to advanced spiritual knowledge are not to be given up. This will be made clear in the next verses. In the Vedic literature there are many prescriptions of methods for performing sacrifice for some particular purpose. There are certain sacrifices to perform to attain a good son or to attain elevation to the higher planets, but sacrifices prompted by desires should be stopped. However, sacrifice for the purification of one’s heart or for advancement in the spiritual science should not be given up.
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→
- sarva
- all
- nyāsam
- giving up
- tyāgam
- renunciation of desires for enjoying the fruits of actions
- viduḥ
- to understand
- kavayaḥ
- the learned
- prāhuḥ
- declare
- sanyāsam
- renunciation of actions
- karma-phala
- fruits of actions
- karmaṇām
- of actions
- kāmyānām
- desireful
- vichakṣhaṇāḥ
- the wise
- śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
- the Supreme Divine Personality said
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