Chapter 18, Verse 2
श्रीभगवानुवाच | काम्यानां कर्मणां न्यासं संन्यासं कवयो विदुः | सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं प्राहुस्त्यागं विचक्षणाः ||१८-२||
śrībhagavānuvāca . kāmyānāṃ karmaṇāṃ nyāsaṃ saṃnyāsaṃ kavayo viduḥ . sarvakarmaphalatyāgaṃ prāhustyāgaṃ vicakṣaṇāḥ ||18-2||
Meaning
18.2 The Blessed Lord said The sages understand Sannyasa to be the renunciation of action with desire; the wise declare the abandonment of the fruits of all actions as Tyaga.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna answers Arjuna's question with surgical precision. Sannyasa, he says, is the giving up of kamya karma — actions undertaken specifically to gain some personal desire. Tyaga, by contrast, is keeping the action but releasing the grip on its fruits, the sarva-karma-phala-tyaga that has been the Gita's recurring teaching.
The crucial insight is that neither requires fleeing the world. One renounces selfish, desire-driven activity; the other performs all necessary duty while surrendering claim to its results. This reframes the spiritual life as an inner orientation rather than an outward withdrawal — you can renounce while fully engaged.
💡 Key Takeaway
True renunciation is giving up selfish motives and clinging to results, not giving up action itself.
Related Verses
अर्जुन उवाच | संन्यासस्य महाबाहो तत्त्वमिच्छामि वेदितुम् | त्यागस्य च हृषीकेश पृथक्केशिनिषूदन ||१८-१||
arjuna uvāca . saṃnyāsasya mahābāho tattvamicchāmi veditum . tyāgasya ca hṛṣīkeśa pṛthakkeśiniṣūdana ||18-1||
18.1 Arjuna said I desire to know severally, O mighty-armed, the essence or truth of renunciation, O Hrishikesa, as also of abandonment, O slayer of Kesi.
त्याज्यं दोषवदित्येके कर्म प्राहुर्मनीषिणः | यज्ञदानतपःकर्म न त्याज्यमिति चापरे ||१८-३||
tyājyaṃ doṣavadityeke karma prāhurmanīṣiṇaḥ . yajñadānatapaḥkarma na tyājyamiti cāpare ||18-3||
18.3 Some philosophers declare that actions should be abandoned as an evil; while others (declare) that acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity should not be relinished.
निश्चयं शृणु मे तत्र त्यागे भरतसत्तम | त्यागो हि पुरुषव्याघ्र त्रिविधः सम्प्रकीर्तितः ||१८-४||
niścayaṃ śṛṇu me tatra tyāge bharatasattama . tyāgo hi puruṣavyāghra trividhaḥ samprakīrtitaḥ ||18-4||
18.4 Hear from Me the conclusion or the final truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, verily, O best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds.