arjuna uvāca
sannyāsasya mahā-bāho
tattvam icchāmi veditum
tyāgasya ca hṛṣīkeśa
pṛthak keśi-niṣūdana

Translation

Arjuna said: O mighty-armed one, I wish to understand the purpose of renunciation [tyaga] and of the renounced order of life [sannyasa], O killer of the Keshi demon, master of the senses.

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
kāmyānāḿ karmaṇāḿ nyāsaḿ
sannyāsaḿ kavayo viduḥ
sarva-karma-phala-tyāgaḿ
prāhus tyāgaḿ vicakṣaṇāḥ

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The giving up of activities that are based on material desire is what great learned men call the renounced order of life [sannyasa]. And giving up the results of all activities is what the wise call renunciation [tyaga].

tyājyaḿ doṣa-vad ity eke
karma prāhur manīṣiṇaḥ
yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma
na tyājyam iti cāpare

Translation

Some learned men declare that all kinds of fruitive activities should be given up as faulty, yet other sages maintain that acts of sacrifice, charity and penance should never be abandoned.

niścayaḿ śṛṇu me tatra
tyāge bharata-sattama
tyāgo hi puruṣa-vyāghra
tri-vidhaḥ samprakīrtitaḥ

Translation

O best of the Bharatas, now hear My judgment about renunciation. O tiger among men, renunciation is declared in the scriptures to be of three kinds.

yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma
na tyājyaḿ kāryam eva tat
yajño dānaḿ tapaś caiva
pāvanāni manīṣiṇām

Translation

Acts of sacrifice, charity and penance are not to be given up; they must be performed. Indeed, sacrifice, charity and penance purify even the great souls.

etāny api tu karmāṇi
sańgaḿ tyaktvā phalāni ca
kartavyānīti me pārtha
niścitaḿ matam uttamam

Translation

All these activities should be performed without attachment or any expectation of result. They should be performed as a matter of duty, O son of Pritha. That is My final opinion.

niyatasya tu sannyāsaḥ
karmaṇo nopapadyate
mohāt tasya parityāgas
tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ

Translation

Prescribed duties should never be renounced. If one gives up his prescribed duties because of illusion, such renunciation is said to be in the mode of ignorance.

duḥkham ity eva yat karma
kāya-kleśa-bhayāt tyajet
sa kṛtvā rājasaḿ tyāgaḿ
naiva tyāga-phalaḿ labhet

Translation

Anyone who gives up prescribed duties as troublesome or out of fear of bodily discomfort is said to have renounced in the mode of passion. Such action never leads to the elevation of renunciation.

kāryam ity eva yat karma
niyataḿ kriyate ’rjuna
sańgaḿ tyaktvā phalaḿ caiva
sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ

Translation

O Arjuna, when one performs his prescribed duty only because it ought to be done, and renounces all material association and all attachment to the fruit, his renunciation is said to be in the mode of goodness.

na dveṣṭy akuśalaḿ karma
kuśale nānuṣajjate
tyāgī sattva-samāviṣṭo
medhāvī chinna-saḿśayaḥ

Translation

The intelligent renouncer situated in the mode of goodness, neither hateful of inauspicious work nor attached to auspicious work, has no doubts about work.