arjuna uvaca
sannyasasya maha-baho
tattvam icchami veditum
tyagasya ca hrishikesha
prithak kesi-nisudana

"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."

sri-bhagavan uvaca
kamyanam karmanam nyasam
sannyasam kavayo viduh
sarva-karma-phala-tyagam
prahus tyagam vicakshanah

"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]."

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

"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."

niscayam shrinu me tatra
tyage bharata-sattama
tyago hi purusha-vyaghra
tri-vidhah samprakirtitah

"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."

yajna-dana-tapah-karma
na tyajyam karyam eva tat
yajno danam tapas caiva
pavanani manisinam

"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."

etany api tu karmani
sangam tyaktva phalani ca
kartavyaniti me partha
niscitam matam uttamam

"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 sannyasah
karmano nopapadyate
mohat tasya parityagas
tamasah parikirtitah

"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."

duhkham ity eva yat karma
kaya-klesa-bhayat tyajet
sa kritva rajasam tyagam
naiva tyaga-phalam labhet

"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."

karyam ity eva yat karma
niyatam kriyate ’rjuna
sangam tyaktva phalam caiva
sa tyagah sattviko matah

"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 dvesty akusalam karma
kusale nanusajjate
tyagi sattva-samavisto
medhavi chinna-samsayah

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

na hi deha-bhrta sakyam
tyaktum karmany asesatah
yas tu karma-phala-tyagi
sa tyagity abhidhiyate

"It is indeed impossible for an embodied being to give up all activities. But he who renounces the fruits of action is called one who has truly renounced."

anistam istam misram ca
tri-vidham karmanah phalam
bhavaty atyaginam pretya
na tu sannyasinam kvacit

"For one who is not renounced, the threefold fruits of action—desirable, undesirable and mixed—accrue after death. But those who are in the renounced order of life have no such result to suffer or enjoy."

pancaitani maha-baho
karanani nibodha me
sankhye kritante proktani
siddhaye sarva-karmanam

"O mighty-armed Arjuna, according to the Vedanta there are five causes for the accomplishment of all action. Now learn of these from Me."

adhisthanam tatha karta
karanam ca prithag-vidham
vividhas ca prithak cesta
daivam caivatra pancamam

"The place of action [the body], the performer, the various senses, the many different kinds of endeavor, and ultimately the Supersoul—these are the five factors of action."

sarira-van-manobhir yat
karma prarabhate narah
nyayyam va viparitam va
pancaite tasya hetavah

"Whatever right or wrong action a man performs by body, mind or speech is caused by these five factors."

tatraivam sati kartaram
atmanam kevalam tu yah
pasyaty akrita-buddhitvan
na sa pasyati durmatih

"Therefore one who thinks himself the only doer, not considering the five factors, is certainly not very intelligent and cannot see things as they are."

yasya nahankrto bhavo
buddhir yasya na lipyate
hatvapi sa imaû lokan
na hanti na nibadhyate

"One who is not motivated by false ego, whose intelligence is not entangled, though he kills men in this world, does not kill. Nor is he bound by his actions."

jnanam jneyam parijnata
tri-vidha karma-codana
karanam karma karteti
tri-vidhah karma-sangrahah

"Knowledge, the object of knowledge, and the knower are the three factors that motivate action; the senses, the work and the doer are the three constituents of action."

jnanam karma ca karta ca
tridhaiva guna-bhedatah
procyate guna-sankhyane
yathavac chrnu tany api

"According to the three different modes of material nature, there are three kinds of knowledge, action and performer of action. Now hear of them from Me."

sarva-bhutesu yenaikam
bhavam avyayam iksate
avibhaktam vibhaktesu
taj jnanam viddhi sattvikam

"That knowledge by which one undivided spiritual nature is seen in all living entities, though they are divided into innumerable forms, you should understand to be in the mode of goodness."