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Study a Verse
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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 18.7
नियतस्य तु सन्न्यास: कर्मणो नोपपद्यते ।
मोहात्तस्य परित्यागस्तामस: परिकीर्तित: ॥ ७ ॥
niyatasya tu sannyāsaḥ
karmaṇo nopapadyate
mohāt tasya parityāgas
tāmasaḥ parikīrtitaḥ
Prescribed duties should never be renounced. If one gives up his prescribed duties because of illusion, such renunciation is said to be in the mode of ignorance.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
Giving up prescribed duties because of illusion is renunciation in the mode of ignorance.
Prabhupāda explains that work for material satisfaction should stop, but activities that advance Kṛṣṇa consciousness should continue.
Cook for the Supreme Lord, offer the food to Him, and then accept it, rather than cooking only for yourself.
Renunciation in the mode of ignorance
Prescribed duties should never be renounced
Giving up prescribed duties because of illusion is in the mode of ignorance
Examples – Cooking and marriage ceremony
Activities which promotes one to spiritual activity are recommended e.g. cooking and offering to the Lord; For a sannyasi, cooking for oneself is prohibited, but cooking for Supreme Lord is not prohibited
Sannyasi may perform marriage ceremony for his disciple to help him advance in Krishna consciousness
A true sannyasi does not renounce his activities, but is detached from their fruits
Krishna concludes that renounced order of life (sannyasa) and renunciation of the fruits of action (tyaga) are the same.
Work performed in this way is renunciation in the mode of goodness
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: karma, sva-dharma.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 18.7 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to duty & action?
Do one task today purely because it is right.
Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.