Text 7
niyatasya tu sannyasah
karmano nopapadyate
mohat tasya parityagas
tamasah parikirtitah
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.
Commentary by Srila Prabhupada
Work for material satisfaction must be given up, but activities which promote one to spiritual activity, like cooking for the Supreme Lord and offering the food to the Lord and then accepting the food, are recommended. It is said that a person in the renounced order of life should not cook for himself. Cooking for oneself is prohibited, but cooking for the Supreme Lord is not prohibited. Similarly, a sannyasi may perform a marriage ceremony to help his disciple in the advancement of Krishna consciousness. If one renounces such activities, it is to be understood that he is acting in the mode of darkness.
Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur
Starting the description of the three types of tyaga, the Lord here describes the tamasic tyaga. Giving up daily activities (niyatasya karmanah) is not recommended. To reject the nitya karmas out of ignorance of the meaning of scriptures (mohat) is called tamasic tyaga. The sannyasi can reject kamya karmas since they are not obligatory, but nitya karmas are not to be rejected. That is the suggestion of the word tu. The result of such tamasic tyaga is ignorance, instead of attainment of knowledge, which was the very goal in rejecting the nitya karma.