Text 3

tyajyam dosa-vad ity eke
karma prahur manisinah
yajna-dana-tapah-karma
na tyajyam iti capare

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.

Commentary by Srila Prabhupada

There are many activities in the Vedic literature which are subjects of contention. For instance, it is said that an animal can be killed in a sacrifice, yet some maintain that animal killing is completely abominable. Although animal killing in a sacrifice is recommended in the Vedic literature, the animal is not considered to be killed. The sacrifice is to give a new life to the animal. Sometimes the animal is given a new animal life after being killed in the sacrifice, and sometimes the animal is promoted immediately to the human form of life. But there are different opinions among the sages. Some say that animal killing should always be avoided, and others say that for a specific sacrifice it is good. All these different opinions on sacrificial activity are now being clarified by the Lord Himself.

Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur

In this verse the Lord describes other opinions about the meaning of tyaga. The sankhya philosophers (eke manisinah) say that all activities described in the scripture, because of being defective with violence or other bad qualities, should be given up completely. On the other hand, the mimamsakas (apare) say that activities such as sacrifice cannot be given up because they are prescribed by the scriptures.