Bhagavad-Gita As It Is Chapter 18 Text 3-10.

1. Renunciation of 3 kinds. Bhagavad-Gita As It Is Chapter 18 Text 3-10.

2. Text 3 tyäjyaà doña-vad ity eke karma prähur manéñiëaù yajïa-däna-tapaù-karma na tyäjyam iti cäpare 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.

3. Text 4-5 niçcayaà çåëu me tatra tyäge bharata-sattama tyägo hi puruña-vyäghra tri-vidhaù samprakértitaù yajïa-däna-tapaù-karma na tyäjyaà käryam eva tat yajïo dänaà tapaç caiva pävanäni manéñiëäm O best of the Bhäratas, now hear My judgment about renunciation. O tiger among men, renunciation is declared in the scriptures to be of three kinds. 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.

4. Lord’s opinion – final word. • Although there are differences of opinion about renunciation, here the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Çré Kåñëa, gives His judgment, which should be taken as final. • The Lord says that the process of renunciation should be considered in terms of the modes of material nature in which they are performed. • The yogés should perform acts for the advancement of human society. • Should a sannyäsé, who is in the renounced order of life and who has given up his family relations, encourage the marriage ceremony? • Similarly, charity is for the purification of the heart. If charity is given to suitable persons, as described previously, it leads one to advanced spiritual life.

5. Text 6 etäny api tu karmäëi saìgaà tyaktvä phaläni ca kartavyänéti me pärtha niçcitaà 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 Påthä. That is My final opinion.

6. Material and spiritual. • Although all sacrifices are purifying, one should not expect any result by such performances. • In other words, all sacrifices which are meant for material advancement in life should be given up, but sacrifices that purify one's existence and elevate one to the spiritual plane should not be stopped. • A devotee of the Lord should accept any kind of work, sacrifice or charity which will help him in the discharge of devotional service to the Lord.

7. Text 7-10 niyatasya tu sannyäsaù karmaëo nopapadyate mohät tasya parityägas tämasaù parikértitaù duùkham ity eva yat karma käya-kleça-bhayät tyajet sa kåtvä räjasaà tyägaà naiva tyäga-phalaà labhet käryam ity eva yat karma niyataà kriyate 'rjuna saìgaà tyaktvä phalaà caiva sa tyägaù sättviko mataù na dveñöy akuçalaà karma kuçale nänuñajjate tyägé sattva-samäviñöo medhävé chinna-saàçayaù 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. 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. 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. The intelligent renouncer situated in the mode of goodness, neither hateful of inauspicious work nor attached to auspicious work, has no doubts about work.

8. Passion and ignorance. • 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. • One who is in Kåñëa consciousness should not give up earning money out of fear that he is performing fruitive activities. • One should not desist out of fear or because prescribed duties are considered troublesome. Such renunciation is in the mode of passion. • The result of passionate work is always miserable.

9. Renunciation in goodness. • One should act without attachment for the result; he should be disassociated from the modes of work. • A man working in Kåñëa consciousness in a factory does not associate himself with the work of the factory, nor with the workers of the factory. He simply works for Kåñëa. And when he gives up the result for Kåñëa, he is acting transcendentally. • A person in Kåñëa consciousness or in the mode of goodness does not hate anyone or anything which troubles his body.