Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is 18.3

tyājyaḿ doṣa-vad ity eke

karma prāhur manīṣiṇaḥ

yajña-dāna-tapaḥ-karma

na tyājyam iti cāpare

SYNONYMS

tyājyam — must be given up; doṣa-vat — as an evil; iti — thus; eke — one group; karma — work; prāhuḥ — they say; manīṣiṇaḥ — great thinkers; yajña — of sacrifice; dāna — charity; tapaḥ — and penance; karma — works; na — never; tyājyam — are to be given up; iti — thus; ca — and; apare — others.

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.

PURPORT

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.

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