कार्यमित्येव यत्कर्म नियतं क्रियतेऽर्जुन ।
सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्यागः सात्त्विको मतः ॥ १८.९ ॥

kāryam-ity-eva yat-karma niyatam kriyate’rjuna |
saṅgam tyaktvā phalam caiva sa tyāga: sāttviko mata: || 18.9 ||

Sāttvika renunciation

Having described the two levels and kinds of renunciation – delusional and reluctance-oriented, tāmasika and rājasika – Krishna proceeds to reveal the true renunciation and how it should be attempted and actualized. Krishna’s next words in the text are of paramount importance. The two earlier verses serve as a prelude to know by contrast what is not true renunciation:

कार्यमित्येव यत्कर्म नियतं क्रियतेऽर्जुन ।

सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा फलं चैव स त्यागः सात्त्विको मतः ।।

kāryam-ity-eva yat-karma niyatam kriyate’rjuna |

saṅgam tyaktvā phalam caiva sa tyāga: sāttviko mata: ||

(Bhagavad Gita 18.9)

O Arjuna, whichever activity – enjoined by Scriptures or otherwise – when performed avoiding saṅga and relinquishing attachment to result, would constitute sāttvika renunciation.

In contrast to the tāmasika and rājasika relinquishment, Krishna now discloses the sāttvika kind. Here, what is relinquished is not action or activity, but the wrong attitude and attachment (saṅga) towards it. No action, as such, can be eschewed. The only thing to be left is the wrong ideas and perceptions about it.

Mind produces wrong as well as right thoughts. If its offshoots are wrong, they should be abandoned and the right ones installed in their place. Thus dispossessing the wrong outlook and possessing the right one is the sāttvika, enlightened process of dealing with the mind.

Once a task, small or big – be it personal, familial, professional or social – is to be performed for a valid reason, do so wholeheartedly. The motivation is that it is required to be done. We are supposed to be active. When activities are called for and they are unavoidable, why not yoke ourselves to them earnestly?

But in doing so, the saṅga, attachment or undue psychological identification, should be dispensed with. Between an action and its result, anything can come up or interfere. What will and when, none can predict. So leave the course of things to itself. Play your part zealously. Put your mind and attention to the task at hand in all effectiveness. That it is to be done, should be the sole consideration behind the performance.

Who can predict the outcome of the war Arjuna is going to fight? Bheeshma and Drona are unconquerable. So too are many others. To subdue all of them and ultimately to win is by no means an assured outcome. At the same time, the war has to be fought.

On one of the days of the battle, Arjuna was away contending the Samśaptakas. His leadership was not available in the main front. Yudhiṣṭhira and the rest were confronted by the चक्रव्यूह (cakravyūha) formed by the opponents. None of the elders had the skill to penetrate it. They were at their wit’s end.

They called Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s son, a valorous and skilled fighter, and told him that he should help them in the crisis. Abhimanyu said: “I shall penetrate this चक्रव्यूह (cakravyūha), but if caught inside I may not be able to come out. I do not yet know that skill.” Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Do not fear. Enter in and we shall follow you. Once we are inside, there is no danger.”

Abhimanyu agreed and dashed in. But, before Yudhiṣṭhira and his men could get in, Jayadratha sealed the entry point and none could penetrate further. Abhimanyu was trapped inside. All the Mahārathas (great warriors) of the enemy surrounded and jointly fought Abhimanyu. He held his ground for long, but was killed in the end.

Any venture, will always have some unpredictable elements, as happened in this instance. Yudhiṣṭhira’s intention was quite in place. He meant what he said. He was sure that nothing untoward would happen to Abhimanyu. For, along with all the other powerful heroes of the Pāṇḍava army, he himself would be there inside the cakravyūha. But in minutes the most unexpected intercepted. Yudhiṣṭhira and the rest were pitiably kept away, leaving the young Abhimanyu alone inside.

Does this not make it clear that anything may intercept the expected outcome of our efforts? The only safeguard will be to avoid saṅga towards the outcome. Mind should be enriched and empowered to act with poise in any situation. Instead of expecting a sure specific outcome and working in that hope, the mind should imbibe and display a natural note of readiness and poise, without getting seduced by hope or weakened by fear. In this is saṅga-tyāga. With saṅga-tyāga also comes tyāga of the attachment to the fruit or result.

Saṅga is a product of ignorance, delusion and disharmony. With the dawning of clarity through wisdom, spiritual integration results, leading to the extinction of bheda-buddhi (differential outlook). Mind can always swing from bad to good, and also from good to bad. Make it swing to the good. Intelligence can also shift from doubt to clarity and right decision. Make it do so.

This process of cleansing the mind and making it poised, treating the intelligence and rendering it clear and resolute, is the sāttvika-tyāga. By this is one enlightened and illumined. For this, there is no need to stop or withdraw from any action. Performance of whatever is necessary with a frame of mind that gives peace, poise and enlightenment is what is needed.

The whole process of relinquishment is applicable to the mind. It consists of abandoning the troublesome note and imbuing the viable, vibrant and luminous one. Understand the difference very well.

To summarize the discussion:

Physical relinquishment of action is not possible. Such a scope is not provided by Nature.

What is possible and required is inner renunciation. That is, renunciation of the saṅga (undue identification) towards actions. With this, whatever is necessary should be pursued with poise, persistence and peace. Mind’s disturbing elements alone can and should be renounced.