Chapter 18: Conclusion — The Perfection of Renunciation

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 18.9

kāryam ity eva yat karma

niyataḿ kriyate 'rjuna

sańgaḿ tyaktvā phalaḿ caiva

sa tyāgaḥ sāttviko mataḥ

SYNONYMS

kāryamit must be done; iti — thus; eva — indeed; yat — which; karma — work; niyatam — prescribed; kriyate — is performed; arjunaO Arjuna; sańgam — association; tyaktvā — giving up; phalam — the result; ca — also; eva — certainly; saḥ — that; tyāgaḥ — renunciation; sāttvikaḥin the mode of goodness; mataḥin My opinion.

TRANSLATION

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.

PURPORT

Prescribed duties must be performed with this mentality. One should act without attachment for the result; he should be disassociated from the modes of work. A man working in Kṛṣṇa 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 Kṛṣṇa. And when he gives up the result for Kṛṣṇa, he is acting transcendentally.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness