Bhagavad Gita 18.2श्री 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."
Hindi translation
Hindi Translation By Swami Ramsukhdas
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 A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
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…
18.2The Blessed Lord said, "The sages understand sannyasa to be the renunciation of action…
- 18.3Some philosophers declare that actions should be abandoned as evil; while others declare…
- 18.4Hear from Me the conclusion or the final truth about this abandonment, O best of the…
- 18.5Acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity should not be abandoned, but should be performed;…
- 18.6But even these actions should be performed, leaving aside attachment and the desire for…
- 18.7Verily, the renunciation of obligatory action is not proper; the abandonment of the same…
- 18.8He who abandons action out of fear of bodily trouble (because it is painful), does not…
- 18.9Whatever obligatory action is done, O Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done,…
- 18.10The man of renunciation, pervaded by purity, intelligent, and with his doubts cut asunder,…
- 18.11Indeed, it is not possible for an embodied being to completely abandon actions; however,…
- 18.12The threefold fruit of action (evil, good, and mixed) accrues after death 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
Read this when you feel
Related verses
- 5.12The one who is united (the well-poised or harmonized) having abandoned the fruit of action…
- 6.24Abandoning unreservedly all desires born of Sankalpa (thought and imagination) and…
- 2.71That person attains peace who, abandoning all desires, moves about without longing,…
- 16.21There are three gates to this hell, destructive of the self: lust, anger, and greed;…