Chapter 18: Conclusion -- The Perfection of Renunciation

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Bhagavad-gita As It Is 18.9

karyam ity eva yat karma

niyatam kriyate 'rjuna

sangam tyaktva phalam caiva

sa tyagah sattviko matah

SYNONYMS

karyam -- it must be done; iti -- thus; eva -- indeed; yat -- which; karma -- work; niyatam -- prescribed; kriyate -- is performed; arjuna -- O Arjuna; sangam -- association; tyaktva -- giving up; phalam -- the result; ca -- also; eva -- certainly; sah -- that; tyagah -- renunciation; sattvikah -- in the mode of goodness; matah -- in 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 Krsna 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 Krsna. And when he gives up the result for Krsna, he is acting transcendentally.

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