Verse-2
Chapter 18 — Moksha Sanyasa Yoga
Verse 2
🕉 Original Sanskrit Shloka
|| Shree Bhagavaanuvaacha ||
kāmyānāṁ karmaṇāṁ nyāsaṁ sannyāsaṁ kavayo viduḥ
sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṁ prāhustyāgaṁ vicakṣaṇāḥ
🕉 English Translation
Karma chodna kamna jinme hai,
Pandit kayee kehte sanyasa yeh.
Magar chodna phal ki iccha ko hi,
Kahein isko hee tyaga pandit kayi.
📜 Translation
English
The Blessed Lord said: Some wise ones consider the giving up of action prompted by desire as renunciation and other learned and thoughtful ones declare the abandonment of fruit of action as renunciation.
Observe the marvellous liberality of the expressions of the Krishna of the Gita. Arjun raised a question with Him; He could have given a straight reply, but He did not do so. He first put forward the opinions of different philosophers, thinkers and learned ones. This in itself is the outstanding feature of eternal traditions. Here there are several philosophies, seers, thinkers and ideologists. All have been respected in the culture of the eternal tradition. That has been kept in the forefront here by the Blessed Lord.
Actions are of several types-Regular actions, duty-bound actions, dedicated actions, motivated actions, etc. Some actions are related to one's daily routine, some actions are to be done as duty as a human being, some actions are to be performed in special situations or circumstances. Here the giving up of desire-motivated action has been opined by some thinkers to be renunciation of action. The relinquishment of such desire-motivated action has been stated by the Blessed Lord, to be taken as renunciation according to the opinion of some wise ones.
There are some adept thinkers who consider the giving up of all fruits of action as renunciation. Perform the duties assigned to you, but without keeping any desire in mind, totally without any motives. Here the words 'renunciation of fruits of all actions' have a special implication. To make all actions free of all desire for fruit or renouncing desire of any kind. Not just this, further more there follows the opinion of other learned ones that actions of sacrifice, charity and austerity should never be given up; they should be continuously performed. The body is of the nature to perform action. When one has to perform action then why not perform some purposeful and useful action?