A core teaching · grounding in mood · easy to enter
“Renunciation means doing what must be done without gripping the result.”
Arjuna, when fixed duty is done as only duty, without clinging to results, that renunciation is called sattvic.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyto be done · thus only · which · action · fixed, prescribed · is done · Arjuna · attachment · having given up · result, fruit · and · indeed · that · renunciation · sattvic · is considered
Fixed duty becomes pure renunciation when it is done without attachment to personal gain or to the result.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Moksha Sanyasa Yoga" (Liberation through Renunciation).
Verse 9 sits in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita — Moksha Sanyasa Yoga, "Liberation through Renunciation". The chapter has 78 verses in total.
A nurse finishes her full round at the end of a long night, though no supervisor is watching. Krishna calls that sattvic: the duty done for its own sake, with attachment to praise and reward set aside.
Did you like this verse?
Sattvic tyaga, in Krishna's words, means doing required work because it is required, without craving its fruit.
What this verse means
Fixed duty becomes pure renunciation when it is done without attachment to personal gain or to the result.
Context & commentary
Krishna now refines renunciation: keep the duty and do the required work with no grasping for reward. That is the cleanest form of letting go.
What it looks like today
A nurse finishes her full round at the end of a long night, though no supervisor is watching. Krishna calls that sattvic: the duty done for its own sake, with attachment to praise and reward set aside.
“You can stay committed without becoming needy about what comes back.”
Explore related themes: attachment (20 verses), nishkama (14 verses), tyaga (14 verses)