Bhagavad Gita — Moksha Sannyasa Yoga, Shloka 8
Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
दुःखमित्येव यत्कर्म कायक्लेशभयात्त्यजेत् । स कृत्वा राजसं त्यागं नैव त्यागफलं लभेत् ॥ १८.८ ॥
duḥkham ityeva yat karma kāya-kleśa-bhayāt tyajet | sa kṛtvā rājasaṃ tyāgaṃ naiva tyāga-phalaṃ labhet || 18.8 ||
He who abandons action, saying, ‘It is suffering,’ out of fear of bodily hardship—having thus made rajasic renunciation—does not attain the fruit of renunciation.
जो मनुष्य कर्म को दुःखरूप समझकर केवल शारीरिक कष्ट के भय से उसका त्याग करता है, वह राजस त्याग करके त्याग का फल नहीं पाता।
If one abandons an action merely thinking, “it is painful,” out of fear of bodily hardship, having performed a rājasa (passion-driven) renunciation, one does not obtain the fruit of renunciation.
Traditional renderings emphasize ‘fear of bodily trouble’ as a taming of duty by comfort-seeking; academic-literal versions foreground the evaluative motive (“painful”) and classify it explicitly as rājasa-tyāga. No major variant is implied here beyond normal sandhi/orthography.
FAQs
The verse distinguishes principled letting-go from avoidance: giving up duties because they feel unpleasant or taxing is framed as an affect-driven response (fear of strain), not a mature regulation of desire and attachment.
Renunciation is evaluated by inner disposition rather than mere external non-performance; the guṇa framework implies that the quality of mind (rajas here) shapes the spiritual efficacy of one’s ‘tyāga’.
Within the chapter’s taxonomy of renunciation, this verse defines the rājasa type, preparing for the sattvic model that follows (18.9–10).
It cautions against quitting responsibilities solely due to discomfort; instead, it encourages examining whether withdrawal is value-based or primarily driven by aversion to effort.