📿 Shloka Collection

Niyatasya Tu Sannyasah

Gita 18.7 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 18 — Moksha Sannyasa Yoga
नियतस्य तु संन्यासः कर्मणो नोपपद्यते ।
मोहात्तस्य परित्यागस्तामसः परिकीर्तितः ॥
Niyatasya tu sannyasah karmano nopapadyate
Mohat tasya parityagas tamasah parikirtitah
नियतस्य
of prescribed duties — of obligatory actions
संन्यासः
renunciation — abandonment
नोपपद्यते
is not proper — is not appropriate
मोहात्
out of delusion — out of confusion
परित्यागः
complete abandonment
तामसः
tamasic — born of tamas (inertia)

Krishna now begins the threefold classification. First, the lowest: tamasic tyaga. He says that giving up your prescribed duties — the responsibilities that life naturally places before you — is not appropriate. When someone abandons these duties out of delusion, that abandonment is tamasic.

What does this look like in practice? A parent who stops caring for their children because they feel overwhelmed. A worker who quits every job when it gets hard, not because of principle but because of fatigue and confusion. The duties are real. The abandonment comes from fog in the mind, not from wisdom.

The Gita does not mince words here. Tamasic tyaga is renunciation driven by moha — a clouded understanding that mistakes laziness for liberation.

Prescribed duties (niyata karma) are those obligations that arise naturally from one's station in life — supporting family, fulfilling responsibilities, maintaining one's dharma.

Of the three kinds of tyaga, tamasic is the lowest. The rajasic and sattvic forms follow in the next two shlokas.

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